Thoughts that have come from various quotes taken from the book, "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim Based Society" by John H. Hovis. Click here to link directly to the audio file.
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"No the answer isn’t trying to walk a narrow line between thinking too lowly and too highly of ourselves. How can one possibly do that on a consistent basis? As I pondered these two sides of spiritual brokenness it came to me that it isn’t balance we need, its convergence."
As quoted from the book "Victor - Breaking Free From a Victim-Based Society" by John H. Hovis Page 169.
I'm beginning to see how balance isn't really the answer to much in our world today. I'm not advocating for us to take a hard stance for or against things with no compromise. Compromise, for no other reason, is often a good idea because it causes us to have relationship so that compromise can be reached. Balance and compromise can be totally opposite things as far as I have come to realize.
Balance when it comes to something as important as who we are just isn't something I'm seeing as being all that healthy. When we try to balance what the world says about us with what God says, life can be such a victim making prospect. Things of God rarely work when balance is the standard we apply in our lives.
I'm starting to believe that convergence is much more applicable when it comes to living this life of a victor. Convergence is defined as the act of moving toward union or uniformity. Where balance speaks of equalizing all the various compartments of our lives, convergence has more to do with all our compartments becoming one. When it comes to who we are as it relates to what we do, convergence is really all I have found that works in this world.
Balance happens when we try to give equal weight and attention to the various aspects of our lives. For me, I can quickly think of five different parts of my life that I find important. They are family, work, health, social life, and God. Balance says that I need to make sure each of these areas are given the kinds of attention and care needed to keep them in a position where they are doing for my life what I expect.
In other words, if I spend too much time at work, then my family, health, social life and spiritual condition will suffer. Balance requires that we carefully adjust our focus in ways that make sure we aren't preoccupied in areas that will jeopardize any of the other importance sections of our lives.
In theory, this is a pretty good strategy to consider. Problem is that it takes a lot of work to maintain a balance that makes life be all it can be. Inevitably, we will fail to make proper adjustments and being out of balance is the result. Convergence is a strategy that is beginning to make so much more sense to me.
Where balance is allocating an equalized portion of time and effort to each of the important areas of live, convergence brings all the elements under one centralized focus. Problem with convergence is that if we don't choose the right focus, life will spin out of control as easily as it can if balance is our objective. Let me explain that a bit more.
If we decide that convergence is the strategy by which we want to run our lives, and we choose family from which everything else springs from, we are setting ourselves up for disaster. If family is to be the focus, what happens when family dynamics change? What happens to your life when the kids grow up and move away? What happens if there is a divorce? What happens if a death causes family dynamics to alter drastically? As important as family is in my life, converging my entire life around family opens the door to failure in ways that make victim thinking a real possibility.
When it comes to convergence, I am seeing that this strategy can only work when I choose to converge all the segments of my life into a relationship with God. If convergence means coming into union or becoming unified with, it makes a lot of sense to me to have family, health, work and social all be melded together with a walk with God. Convergence of my life with that of God's gives me something that converging with any other part of my life just can't. The advantage to converging my life with God's is that of permanence.
It is when I allow family, health, work and my social life to all be melded into a walk with God, that I'm not as rocked when change happens. Because of the fact that God doesn't change, I'm more able to weather the storms that might come my way in these important areas of my life. When I have lived a life of convergence with God as the focal point, the crazy things that happen in this life don't work as well to make victim thinking take control of my life.
Our Bible reading today really confirms this point. It says...
Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
Jesus boils down the entire Bible into the convergence of three concentrations of love. They are, Love God, Love Others, and Love self. It is when we converge our lives in to these three areas of focus that I believe life takes on a power that balance can never attain to. Interesting thing is, we can't just do one or two of these loves. Without doing them all, we will never tap into the power promised by God for the victor.
Without knowing how to Love God we will never be able to love ourselves. Fact is, we can't really love our neighbor unless we know how to love ourselves. When convergence is the strategy for life, love becomes such an important focus as far as Jesus was concerned. It all starts with love for God. From there things begin to connect in ways that make life that much more manageable even in the midst of victimizing events.
Interesting thing is that knowing how to love isn't a once and done kind of thing. Learning that love is a lifetime process. I know how frustrating that statement is to all us instant gratification kinds of people. I believe God made it this way so that we would continue to grow in relationship with Him. Learning how to Love God is a life-long process that promises to make all the areas of our life function in ways they never could with just applying a balanced strategy.
Take an inventory today. How are the various areas of your life working out as you try to keep them all in balance? Maybe it is time for a strategy change. Maybe convergence is what you need to consider. Focus on love and watch your victor status take you to places where the awesome power of God flows in and through your life today.
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