Being a person that tends to be fairly black and white, I appreciate the introduction to this class. The focus was on holding truth in tension. In many areas in life, there isn’t a clear one way or another, not a clear right or wrong. A lot in life is about balance. Leaning more toward all or nothing, that balancing act has been a tall order for me. Thank goodness for Holy Spirit who will pull me off the extreme edges I tend to gravitate toward on my own.

In case you are not familiar with the Truth-in-Tension concept, I’ll point some out.

In the Bible, we are told two contradicting things to do with fools:

Proverbs 26:4-5 “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.

Which is it? They are both true. Chris Vallotton has a great article on this topic, if you are interested in understanding this more. 

In his article he gives another example concerning salvation. Ephesians 2:8 says we are saved by grace, not as a result of works, and in James 2:17 we learn that if we have no works our faith is dead.

He goes on to explain that we tend to view truth horizontally, whereas God wants us to view truth vertically. Isaiah 28:10 refers to this vertical nature of God’s truth, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little.”

Apparently my black and white thinking is because I think horizontally. In that kind of thinking, one truth always seems to contradict another. I need to train myself to think vertically. I am not really sure how to go about this. But I imagine it has to do with asking Holy Spirit to give me discernment in the moment to know which truth applies, or how to build one on top of the other. What do you think? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.

Going back to the session, some truths I have to learn to hold in tension regarding my journey to wholeness include:

Logic /Emotions

This reminds me of the split between some charismatic and some evangelical churches. One accuses the other of all Scripture and no Spirit, and the other is accused of not being biblical enough. I know from experience we need both, and the Bible is very clear about us needing both. We can’t favor one at the expense of another or vice versa. This applies to my journey of getting well. Feelings matter. But they are not all that matters. Knowledge and logic are important, but not at the cost of suppressing feelings.

Investigating Roots /Changing Actions

The idea here is that it really helps to understand where an issue began, but sometimes if I wait until I know the ‘why’ before I change my actions, I might be stuck for a long time. I think of all the commands in the Bible. I am commanded to obey them, whether I understand them or not. More than once, I have gained understanding of the ‘why’ after I have been walking in obedience by faith for a while. Some of the things I struggle with, I just need to start combatting with an action in the opposite direction. I must believe that understanding will come in God’s perfect timing.

Acceptance /Contending

I feel I have been camping out here for a long time. What I need to remember is God’s promises. I can accept where I am at this specific moment, but that does not mean I settle and tolerate the situation, and learn to live with it. There is a big difference between beating myself up over being in a certain predicament, versus settling and accepting it as how my life is going to be. I don’t tolerate where I am at. If I do, I don’t think I really honor God’s promises. There are so many promises I long to see fulfilled in my life! I am grateful that I am loved and given grace while I’m not experiencing them, but I press on for the promise fulfilled.

Compassion /Ownership

It’s important to receive compassion for myself. I sometimes wonder why compassion is easier to give than to receive. I’m not sure how many of us feel that way, but I often find that I am not being very kind to myself. However, I would give someone else in the same situation compassion. I tend to be on the ownership extreme. I quickly dive into quests to take responsibility for my part. This class is reminding me to assess from time to time, if I am also receiving the compassion that I would give others in the same situation.

Power to change our lives completely /God is involved, and he is bigger than us

One of these extremes can take me onto a ‘heal-myself’ journey and everything hinges on whether I do things right. The other extreme is to wait until God supernaturally intervenes, and until then I just sit around and twirl my thumbs. I tend to veer to the self – side here. But I also have discovered that when I am too far on that side, I get exhausted and burn out eventually. Of course, God being interested in walking with me, wants me to walk with him and include him in all of this and not do it all by myself. A very important thing to highlight to myself as I dig deeper.

So, in the interest of building some self-awareness, what side do you tend to be on more in the above areas, or are you already pretty well balanced?