I’ve often thought of the balancing act of living as a Christian as walking a tightrope, high above a canyon. One slip on the cable and we may plunge to our death, but Christ is the safety cable that comes along with us, ready to catch our fall.
That tightrope walk across the canyon represents life under tension. But tension is a good thing. Tension keeps things balanced, and balance brings closeness to God and one another, and closeness to God and one another brings joy.
Faith and Works
“Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you…”
— Philippians 2:12–13
The tension between faith and works is one of the most significant theological themes in the Bible, and its central to understanding salvation, discipleship, and what it means to live out our faith.
The Tension: Is it faith or works that saves us?
On the surface, Scripture seems to offer two competing claims:
- Paul says: We are saved by faith, not works.
- James says: Faith without works is dead.
So which is it?
The answer is: True faith produces works. These are not in conflict but in relationship—like a plant and its fruit. Jesus uses this analogy with his disciples when he comes across a fig tree that shows signs (the leaves) of bearing early fruit, but when upon closer inspection it is revealed to have no fruit, he curses the tree.
This serves as both a warning for us today that our faith should be producing fruit. The fruit of the spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Faith is the hand that receives the gift. Works are the feet that walk it out.
Contentment and Ambition
How do we rest in what God has given us while still pursuing growth, excellence, or change?
The Biblical Tension: Be content—but don’t become complacent
On one side:
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…”
— Philippians 4:12
On the other:
“Not that I have already obtained all this… but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.”
— Philippians 3:12
Paul says both—in the same letter! This shows us they’re not enemies, but partners when rightly understood.
Contentment without ambition will lead to laziness, fear of change, and stagnation, and ambition without contentment will lead to anxiety, fear of failure, and greed.
Check Your Motives
The line between holy ambition and selfish ambition is often the motive:
- Are you trying to prove something?
- Are you trusting God with the results?
- Are you seeking His kingdom or your own?
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” — Matthew 6:33
Then everything else falls into its right place.
Justice and Mercy
“Mercy triumphs over judgment.” – James 2:13
“I the Lord love justice.” – Isaiah 61:8
One of the primary things that sets Christianity apart from every other religion is its reliance upon the sacrifice and mercy of Christ. That salvation is through Grace alone means it is undeserved and unearned.
How can God be both perfectly just (not overlooking sin) and perfectly merciful (not crushing us for sin)?
God is both perfectly just and perfectly merciful through the person and work of Jesus Christ. His justice demands that sin be dealt with—He cannot overlook evil without compromising His holiness. Yet His mercy desires to forgive, restore, and save. At the cross, these two attributes meet: Jesus, though sinless, bore the full weight of God’s justice by taking our punishment upon Himself, satisfying the righteous requirement of the law. In doing so, God did not ignore sin—He judged it fully in Christ—while extending mercy to us, the guilty, by offering forgiveness and new life through faith. The cross is the only place where God’s justice and mercy are both fully upheld.
Practical Application
| In our lives | What it might look like |
|---|---|
| Parenting | Discipline with empathy and restoration |
| Conflict resolution | Seeking truth and reconciliation |
| Equal justice | Fighting injustice without dehumanizing others |
| Church discipline | Calling to repentance with a path to healing |
Justice without mercy is harsh and crushing.
Mercy without justice is sentimental and permissive.
The gospel gives us both—truth and grace, sword and balm, cross and resurrection.
Weakness and Strength
“When I am weak, then I am strong.” – 2 Corinthians 12:10
God’s strength is most clearly displayed not in human power, but in our weakness. While the world sees weakness as failure or deficiency, Scripture shows that admitting our limitations is often the beginning of real strength. The apostle Paul writes, “When I am weak, then I am strong”, because God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Rather than eliminating all our struggles, God often works through them to humble us, draw us closer, and show that victory belongs to Him. In Christ, strength doesn’t come from self-reliance but from surrender—so that we might boast, not in our greatness, but in God’s grace.
Suffering and Glory
In the biblical view, suffering and glory are not opposites—they are intimately connected. Paul writes, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). The Bible doesn’t promise a life free of hardship, but it does promise that all suffering endured for Christ has purpose and will be redeemed. Jesus Himself was “made perfect through suffering” (Hebrews 2:10), and calls His followers to take up their cross. Yet through that suffering, God produces perseverance, character, and hope (Romans 5:3–5). Just as the resurrection followed the cross, glory follows suffering for those who are in Christ—not as a reward for enduring, but as the natural fruit of sharing in His life, death, and victory.
Love and Boundaries
Biblical love is not boundary-less; it is holy, wise, and often requires saying “no.” While love calls us to be patient, kind, and forgiving (1 Corinthians 13), it also “does not rejoice in wrongdoing” and is rooted in truth. Even Jesus, the embodiment of perfect love, set boundaries—He withdrew from crowds (Mark 1:35), refused to entrust Himself to those with false motives (John 2:24), and sometimes walked away rather than force reconciliation. Boundaries are not a failure to love, but often the means by which we love well—protecting what is good, honoring others’ choices, and guarding our own hearts (Proverbs 4:23). When rooted in humility and grace, boundaries help love remain healthy, not controlling or enabling, and keep our relationships aligned with God’s truth rather than our emotional pressure.
Conclusion
As we walk the tightrope of life, the push and pull, the tension, keeps us centered and on the right path. Even the tension of the tightrope matters, and life without tension becomes striving and meaningless.
The joy of the Lord comes to those who balance these tensions, and when they are misaligned it leads to fear, anxiety, and sin.
