I once knew a woman who did her doctoral thesis on Jesus and the Myers-Briggs Personality-Type Indicator, a personality test. The test breaks out one’s personality into a combination of four distinct categories. If one has a balance between two of the categories, such as introversion and extroversion, it is referred to as the “X type.” This woman’s thesis was Jesus was the X type across all four categories, being perfectly balanced in each. I don’t think it is too much of a stretch to say the Hebrew writer recognizes Jesus’ balance when he commands us to not be “carried away” by the many strange teachings that pop up in life, like the one I heard last night on public television that our bodies can actually age backwards as we grow older, à la Benjamin Button!
We live in a time where being extreme is becoming more and more attractive. Both of our political parties are currently involved in a battle between those who want a more balanced approach and those who favor some type of revolution to replace the existing system. We have people on both sides of the immigration debate both here and in Europe, some wanting to seal their countries borders to keep immigrants out and others who believe their countries’ borders should be wide open.
We see this tendency, too, within the beliefs and practices of various groups in Christianity. The “liberals” call for acceptance and non-judgment of anyone regardless of their behavior or attitudes toward it, to the point there seems to be no recognition of sin, and “conservatives” tend to judge others in such a way to presume there is no grace.
And this is the way the devil likes it. C.S. Lewis captures his strategy perfectly through the demon Screwtape (in The Screwtape Letters) when he says, “All extremes, except extreme devotion to the Enemy, are to be encouraged.” The devil has us where he wants us when we allow ourselves to wander off into the extremes of our attitudes or behavior. For when we enter this territory, we can see no other truth than our own. While we may sincerely claim God led us there, the true ruler of the territory in which we reside is someone quite different and he gladly lets you believe whatever you want.
Jesus, on the other hand, is steady and balanced. While extremists on all sides may claim He is with them, He is on nobody’s side; rather, He calls us to the middle where there is judgment with mercy, where there is both faith and works, where there is realistic thinking about the world, but no fear, and where the pursuit of love and righteousness is more important than the pursuit of power. While some may argue that Jesus is extreme, He really isn’t. Instead, He is perfectly balanced. He never changes. He is same in the 21st Century as He was in the 1st Century, regardless of the many attempts to shape Him into the image we have of Him.
Today, as you are exposed to the claims and counter-claims from the territories of the extreme, remember who the ruler is of those lands and what his real strategy is (John 10:10). You would be wise to avoid the extremes, except the extreme devotion to Jesus who never changes and who desires to bring perfect balance into the lives of any who follow Him.
© Jim Musser 2016
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