"All men die, but how many men truly live." ~ William Wallace
"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:24)
"The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Henry David Thoreaux
I. Life Lessons From a Barrel
"Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise- why destroy yourself? Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool- why die before your time? It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other.
The man who fears God will avoid all extremes." (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18)
The problem I have and I see it all around me - in your lives and families..is that avoiding extremes (or to put a positive twist to those verses) - finding balance in life is very hard to achieve. We live in a world full of options and diversity..and the speed at which new options and more diversity is being created is mind-boggling..
Just think about your life for a minute. Go back 4 months and just list off the activities you've been involved with..
Dean's List
Most of us - when we speak about our lives - describe ourselves as busy and tired..In fact, just try an experiment this week. Try asking people how they are and see how many people answer "busy" or "tired" - from being busy.
Part of the reason for speaking on this subject this weekend is that our unbalanced schedules and the hectic pace at which we live goes clearly against how God says we are to be living our lives..
Lives of balance - lives of wisdom - lives of peace and lives and schedules with enough space built into them that we can actually hear God when He calls us and gives us direction..And hear this - I think (especially at Lakeview Church - it kinda seems like who we are.) we need to get shaken up a bit on how we're spending and investing our lives..
I think a lot of us have bought into a way of life that our culture says is good..but that God says is unwise and unhealthy and we've got to seriously heed a warning. I'm just putting up a small red flag (me too) and waving it..
and I'm gonna ask you to seek God on your pace and schedule and priorities..and see if you see the red flag as well. Now enough scolding. Let me give you a picture of how I see balance played out in our lives. This is a barrel, an old style barrel made out of wood. Not just any wood - but small strips of wood carefully cut and then banded together..that when liquid is added, these strips actually expand and form a great storage container. Now each of those individual wood strips is called a stave.
Stave - one of the pieces forming a barrel.
Now what do you think would happen if one of those staves broke or was only half as tall as the rest? Well, there'd be a hole in the barrel..and every other stave would be useless even though they were doing their job..it wouldn't matter. So let me apply this theory I've got in my mind. What if each of these staves represented balance in different parts of our lives..in fact, what if we drew our priorities on these barrel staves..
Now - the goal clearly laid out in scripture is to run the race well that God has set out for us - to live a wise and balanced life. So let me play this out a little. If the barrel is only useful to the level of it's lowest stave, then I would suggest our lives are as well..
Say you're excelling in your personal management of time and money and career and fitness. Those staves are all near the top and all at the same level...and you're doing so well. At least you think you are. But your family/marriage and spiritual discipline (daily walk with God) staves are below the halfway mark. What happens? Well, it's simple. There's a hole in your bucket and your life balance is only as good as your lowest stave. And what's worse - if you don't catch it right away, those staves will get lower and lower and lower..and after a while, you've got so may leaks in your barrel - it draws out all the water and then the other staves of your life are basically pretty meaningless. They aren't worth a whole lot by themselves.
And folks, you can play it any way you want. How many times have you seen someone who looks like they've got it all together but forgets the physical health stave and with the pace of life and poor health habits - dies of a heart attack at 48 years old..Nice barrel but just a whole lot shorter than the rest. Or what concerns me is the stave that is commonly overlooked the most in the short term of our lives, but so important an investment over the long term. Spiritual discipline. Here's why it's so important - because you can't grow that stave quickly - it takes time and energy and years. And that stave more than any other gives strength to all the rest. It gives wisdom for marriage and family. Spiritual discipline and knowledge will assist you greatly in your time management, money management, friendships, and most especially in how you set priorities for your whole life..That one stave strengthens all the others and allows them to balance. And so often it is the one that is left till later. I'll spend more time at that when I'm old..I can catch that one in a few minutes next Friday..and the hole in our barrel gets bigger.
So - nice analogy -
Get alone for one day, but what do we do with it..Here's a couple of things I do very regularly.
1. A Ruthless Self-Analysis.
Ask someone else.
Ask God.
2. Write out a strategy for growth.
3. Apply Proverbs 10:17
"He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray." (Proverbs 10:17)
4. Get accountable to someone.
II. Filling the Barrel
Folks, we must not miss the obvious. For any barrel to be useful, someone has got to fill it up with water..an empty barrel is not fulfilling its purpose. It's useless..and I would suggest that our lives are not fulfilling their purpose unless our barrels are full either. And so this begs the question..Where does the water come from and who does the filling. How do you find meaning and purpose and fulfillment in life..
What is life all about? Let me read you a couple pieces of truth.
"I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people. I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him." (Ephesians 1:18-19)
Now catch what this says..basically the God of the universe not only loves us and created us to be in relationship with Him, but He created us with purpose - with a dream and a future that we can pursue passionately for all of eternity. And even more, He created us to live in His power every day..And He created us to live a life of significance every day. God is the only One who can fill up our buckets with real life giving water.
"'Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'" (John 4:14)
Folks - what we've all got to realize is that life meaning and purpose is not achieved by simply doing more things or having more options or getting more stuff..Life purpose and meaning comes from allowing God to flow into our lives on a continuous basis..to live on His power not ours..and to make our life's choices and priorities based on His wisdom and truth that is being poured into our lives every day. And we've gotta know that balance never comes by us just working harder or focusing more..or by reading some self help book. Balance comes from God's wisdom filling up our lives and His power pouring into us and His truth spilling over from His life to ours.
Please hear this. If you think you can manage your life just fine without God's power, then give it a whirl. Fill your boots - get at it. But here's what I think you'll find. It's a lot harder work doing it on your own..and the end result is a leaky barrel.
I don't know why anyone would not want to take advantage of tapping into a source of wisdom and balance and power like God has to offer..it just makes sense to me.
It makes sense that the creator of the barrel would understand its purpose better than anyone else and would fill that barrel to the brim with every good thing it was made to be filled with.
Let me close with a modern day parable.
The Prince and the Pauper.
"I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of." (John 10:10) |
