DISCUSSION GUIDE
Read: Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. 1 Peter 2:11, 12
Introduction: Today we are going to focus on the vital importance and ongoing difficulty of maintaining balance in key theology and practical areas of our lives. Please don’t think in the merely theoretical realm, let’s discuss this in practical ways.
Q1: Why is balance important? Consider multiple aspects of your life: Physical, mental, relational, spiritual.
Q2: Why is balance so difficult to maintain? What are the specific factors that make balance hard for you?
Q3: How are we to balance being good citizens of our earthly nations and yet living as a sojourner here? What does imbalance look like and what does balance look like in this area for you? Be practical.
Q4: How does Scripture present a balance between the facts that Christ has given us victory over sin and yet our sin nature lives one? What does this mean practically in terms of day-to-day life?
Q5: How do we wage war on the things that wage war on our souls without looking and acting like we are in war? (Looking somber, angry, defeated, unhappy, etc.)
Q6: How do we balance the fact that our lives are not the gospel and, yet, know that how we live can make the gospel more or less attractive to others? What are some ways we can become imbalanced? (For instance: We can think that the salvation of others is dependent on us or we can believe that what we do doesn’t matter because God is sovereign).
Q7: How do we balance the need for personal responsibility to abstain from the desires that wage war on our souls with the need for “battle buddies”? What does it look like when we become imbalanced in either over-relying or under-relying on the help of others to act decisively against sin?
Q8: What other areas of life are you finding it hard to find balance in? What practical steps could you take to move towards and live more consistently in balance?