MAINTAIN THE BALANCE

DAY 218

Whether Peter spoke out of fear, under inspiration or by virtue of the sheer awe of the glory they were basking in matters little for our discourse today. What I would like us to ponder on are the words he spoke to Jesus:

Lord,it is good that we are here. If you wish,I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”(Mt 17:4)

Mind you, those names weren’t the only three on the mountain top, because also present were Peter himself, James and John. So what was he talking about? This is what I would like us to consider:

As men, we can become so inspired to give to, and do things for others. We will move mountains for them, esteeming their needs as paramount because our service is unto one another. However, in doing so, as we observed with Peter, we can get caught out and thus forget entirely about our own selves and those closest to us.

This is a truth we have to bear in mind: there will be many moments in life when we have to look within first, before looking without. There will be times we have to ensure that we have, before we can give unto others. At these times, we must remind ourselves of the words of Peter at gate beautiful ‘such as I have, do I give you (Acts 3:6)’.

This is not a call to withhold our hand from others, because service is tripartite: service to God, service to self and service to others. Rather, this is a charge to ensure we maintain a healthy balance so that in our serving, no one and nothing is neglected.

#sly