Out of Whack

I’ve been learning first hand lately about the importance of balance and how the seemingly smallest thing can throw our entire lives out of whack.

It all started on afternoon in early May while I was at a business lunch.  I sat down with my colleagues and everything was fine, but as we waited on our meal to be served, my head started feeling funny and I knew something wasn’t right.  It was all I could do just to stay seated upright in the booth at the restaurant until final the spell cleared just a bit.

Knowing when to cut my losses, I quickly excused myself from the meal and headed for home, continuing to get struck with dizzy spells along the way.  After a quick trip to the doctor, we identified the apparent problem--an ear infection.

An ear infection? I’ve never had one in my life, but apparently I was now the proud owner and little did I know how much it would change my life over a short period of time.

While the infection went away, I continued to have “vertigo”. If you’ve never experienced this wonderful feeling, consider your self highly fortunate.  For about six weeks, the residual effects and a return of the ear infection threw me for a loop.  I couldn’t maintain my balance. I couldn’t even sit still in a chair without getting so dizzy that it made my stomach churn.

This lingering “vertigo” affected my life in all dimensions--at work, at home, at church. You name it, my energy and effectiveness level plummeted.

Fortunately, I’m on the mend. But I’ve learned a few things.

First, when our lives are out of balance, we’re not able to live up to our full potential.  I think it is true physically, but I also believe there is a spiritual truth here also. When we have imbalances in our lives caused by unresolved sin or other issues, it affects our ability to become the people God meant for us to be.

Second, the smallest things can create havoc in our lives. If you would have told me an ear infection would so significantly lower my quality of life for such a long time, I would have laughed.  Sin works the same way in our spiritual walk. Even little matters of sin, left unresolved, can throw our entire spiritual life out of whack. It can make us ineffective in pursuing our personal calling. It can sap our energy and motivation to serve.  Satan would love for us to just sweep it under the rug, but the real cure is in confession and redemption.

Finally, when we lose our balance, we compensate in ways that can lead to other problems. I found myself doing all sorts of crazy things to compensate for the physical lack of balance. I’ve been doing so many crazy things with my neck and head to regain balance, I think I need to visit Dr. Hatfield. Unresolved sin can also cause us to do crazy things to compensate. And those other actions don’t really fix the problem. They just create new ones.

Just like I needed to get the right treatment for my “vertigo”, we need to seek the right spiritual treatment to make sure we don’t have sin creating imbalances in our spiritual lives. This means daily submitting ourselves to Christ and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in us and through us to keep us balanced spiritually.

My doctor said my “vertigo” would likely fade away over time, but it may recur. Rest assured, if it hits me again, I will definitely be prepared to pursue the proper treatment--and quickly.

Jesus not only offers us redemption and atonement for sin, but ultimately, He offers us balance--balance to realize our full potential. Let’s resolve to not let sin throw our lives out of whack.

Let’s get treatment--and quickly.