church2go

It takes balance to ride a bike. That appears obvious. But that balance is put to the test when the bike is outa wack. Let me put it this way, if the wheels aren’t balanced –the bike rider uses more energy to get where he or she wants to go.  

Actually, a bike wheel is a great analogy for Christian life. As I have dwelt on bike wheels over the years, as I have straightened them, and re set them, of replaced hubs etc – I have had time to dwell on comparisons between bike wheels and my life. As I have ridden on them over country roads I have been able to think through the analogy.  

I suppose for me to find understanding and meaning in life I have sought to evaluate things through what I have been involved in. In fact, many times God has used the mundane and the practical to instil in me a greater understanding of what He has for me. For you, you might find God speaking to you through analogies of, farming, engines, knitting, sport whatever. After all Jesus used the things around Him when He spoke in parables. He used stories based in agriculture, finance, and everyday life. 

As we finish off our series on Balance, we need to connect the bits together. 

That is why I want to use a bike wheel as an example. Here we go, my old racing wheel.  

Notice a few things about it. 

1. It is all connected. For a bike wheel to be a wheel it needs to be connected having a wheel in bits isn’t a wheel.

Remember the first week of the series we talked about our whole person.We looked at Luke 2:5252 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.Our life is all interconnected. We are physical beings with a spiritual aspect, we are social and emotional yet also have a mental aspect to our lives. Just as a wheel is one unit so are we.  Different parts of us affect the other parts. Like I said last week when we looked at Proverbs 3  PR 3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;    fear the LORD and shun evil.  PR 3:8 This will bring health to your body    and nourishment to your bones. 

Being wise brings health to our bodies and nourishment to our bones..

IN other words wisdom, God’s wisdom affects our health.

Each aspect of our life is affected by the other. That is why we need to find a balance in it. It is all connected.

2. The second thing is what it is connected to. Look at this wheel. It is connected to the hub. All the spokes are attached to the bit that allows it go work.

Each part of life needs to be connected to God. PR 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart    and lean not on your own understanding;  PR 3:6 in all your ways acknowledge him,    and he will make your paths straight. 

See the principle, God is involved in all of our life. God is interested in the big things and the little things in our lives.

How is our connection to God? Are we truly firmly connected or is our connection getting a bit rusty?

3. Here is something interesting, all the spokes work in tension together. Our life is like that too. We need to find the right amount of tension to keep it all happening. If you let one spoke off its tension – the wheel wobbles. If we get one aspect of our life get outa wack – we wobble.

Eg – working to hard can mean that there is less time for family – then family relationships can wobble.

-         Eating wrong food can make your health wobble which in turn can affect how you work and other things.

-         Slacking off at learning can mean you don’t have al the information you need to do something.

You see there needs to be a balanced tension and you need to sit down and work it out – it doesn’t come naturally.

Finding balance takes time. –

ECC 3:1 There is a time for everything,             and a season for every activity under heaven:

There is even time for scheduling time. Planning, strategizing and scheduling are all valid when it comes to finding balance.

4. But what are the spokes individually?????

Well. This spoke could be family, this spoke could be work, this spoke could be football (if you play football), this one could be bible study, this one could be sleep, you see – it includes all of life. The interesting part is when a wheel is balanced they support each other. The wheel could also be a good analogy of the church. Each person is in support of each other, take one spoke out and the church wobbles. But form a personal perspective  we need to make each spoke work.

You will notice that some spoke cross over each other (We call that lacing) This gives a greater stability and strength. The lighter the spoke the more crossing over  or more lacing needed. Maybe the weaker bits of our lives need to be supported by the stronger bits. If we aren’t natural readers – then we need to spend more time listening to God’s word (CD’s MP3’s are a great way of doing bible study) If we aren’t natural people people then we need to find a way of achieving some of those things. If we aren’t naturally organized then we need to find a way to keep the balance of life structured.

Here is an example from scripture.

16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

If you need to be taught how to live a  Godly life – read scripture. If you need to know how to do stuff for God read scripture. You see – the spoke with bible study on it – affects everything we do.

5. Just in finishing up. – Fixing a wobbly wheel makes it go straight, makes it easier to ride. The process of fixing a wheel is called truing.

So with a spoke key, you adjust each spoke until it is true. That is balance in our lives. We adjust each aspect of our life until we focus on truth.

In this analogy we could say that our life is true when it runs straight. A Bike wheel runs at its best when it is true.

For our life to run straight it needs to be connected with God, the tension needs to be right, each part of life needs to be working together.  

But a wheel left out of a bike is useless. Our balance is only seen when we are placed in the context we are designed for. In a wheels case – put it in the bike. It has its place and purpose.We have a place and a purpose. We are designed to roll!!!Eph 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Find your balance, put yourself in the bike and let’s roll.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 at 8:39 pm and is filed under Sermons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.