From “Discipleship and Discipline” by William H. Hicks, copyright March, 2005:

BALANCING

“Ever gone to a party and ate too much and got sick? Drank too much and got drunk? Proverbs 25: 16 says, “Have you found honey? Eat only what you need, lest you have it in excess and vomit it.” Sometimes finding balance in your life can be an unpleasant- though unforgettable- experience. Dr. John, a rock musician of some notoriety, once wrote, “I been in the right place, but it must have been the wrong time.” This same Dr. John also wrote (in the same song, no less!) “I done said the right thing, but I must have used the wrong words”. Ecclesiastes 3: 1 – 8 says “There is a season, an appointed time for every event under heaven-…” Ecclesiastes 8: 6-7 makes us understand that “…there is a proper time and procedure for every delight, though a man’s trouble is heavy upon him. If no one knows what will happen, who can tell him when it will happen? No man has authority to restrain the wind with the wind, or authority over the day of death; and there is no discharge in the time of war, and evil will not deliver those who practice it.”

In I Corinthians 13: 1 – 3, the spiritual principle of balancing is described as it applies to our motivations. Paul contrasts God’s agape love with eros, physical love, and phileo, brotherly love. God’s agape love is an unselfish esteem for us, a love given without regard or thought for a receipt of the same in return. Agape is its own motivation. Eros and phileo must be fed by return of this affection; otherwise, it may turn into obsession, or simply, die. We believers should love even as God loves, with a selfless regard for the object of our affection without looking for a “return on our investment.” In verse three, God teaches us that philanthropy and martyrdom without love are egotistical, self serving and unprofitable towards the building up of Christ and God’s kingdom.”