Avoiding Destructive Pendulum Swings in Our Lives

Avoiding Destructive Pendulum Swings in Our Lives

By Steve Backlund

“But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . .. self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23). There are many areas in which we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to control and overcome negative impulses. One area we will see self-control manifesting is in helping us not to overreact to perceived doctrinal error or to negative information we hear about people. 

Here are two good verses on self-control. 

• “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be dominated by anything”(1 Corinthians 6:12).

• “Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Corinthians 9:25).
  

To illustrate what I am trying to say, here is an illustration :

• Hurtful actions - I heard of a church leader who had a trusted staff member embezzle a large sum of the church’s money. He said, “I will never trust anyone again.”

• Doctrinal extremes - The greatest truths in Scripture seem to also have the greatest potential to be abused. For instance, let’s say a person has a revelation of the power of God’s grace, but sees a “grace movement” that seems to be giving license to sin in the name of grace, and he says, “I am not going emphasize God’s grace anymore because I do not want people to think they can do whatever they want.”

While these responses may be understandable, it is a “pendulumic” swing to an opposite extreme. This tendency to go to opposite extremes will work against our inner victory and our relationships with others. 

Pendulum - something (such as a state of affairs) that alternates between opposites.

As I have sought not to overreact to what I experience or hear about, I have found these beliefs very helpful. 

1. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water - Don’t fixate on what is wrong, but ask what good is also present. 

2. Important new revelations from Scripture may be messy in its infancy - Just as babies are messy in many ways, new truths from the Bible will most likely need some maturing to lessen the likelihood of misinterpretation. 

3. Be more for things than against things - If we are regularly fighting against darkness and deception, rather than focusing on how to fill people's lives with faith, hope, and love, we will unwittingly create fear, anger, and law-based living.

4. Have more faith in the Holy Spirit’s ability to lead us than the devil’s ability to deceive us - What we expect will happen will greatly influence what happens in our lives. 

5. Avoid the mob mentality - An angry mob had Jesus crucified. A fear-based mob overrode the truth spoken by Joshua and Caleb in Numbers 13 and 14. A religious, self-protecting mob killed Stephen in Acts 7. “​​So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).

6. Seek first to understand before seeking to be understood - This is one of the most important core values to have in order for us to be a healer and not a divider. 

I have been thinking about these things more recently because of a situation in which it was reported that leaders I am closely connected to and respect did not protect the Body of Christ from another influential leader whose actions were apparently abusive and deceptive. As I was praying about this, I wrote the following to the different groups I am part of.

“One of the challenges in situations like this is not to overreact and do pendulumic swings. Yes, we take responsibility for wrongs. We learn and build better systems and core values to decrease the likelihood of something like this happening again. But we also remind ourselves that the same culture that created eleven world changers, created a Judas. If our goal is primarily to prevent a Judas, then we will not have world changers. We are to be more for things than we are against things. We cannot move into a mindset of suspicion and fear. The elder brother default mindset is to first see what is wrong with a person or place, while the father default mindset is to first see what is right with a person or place.  Just because we are looking for what is right does not mean we are gullible, weak, or allow dysfunction under our leadership, but it keeps us in a place of faith, hope, and love.” 

Right now, God is empowering us to exercise self-control in our responses to new information and revelations. We are going to avoid many of the pitfalls associated with fear-based and anger-based decision-making that cause us to let go too quickly of our core values and things we believe God has told us in the past. This is also a season where we will be able to help others who are struggling with their responses to things happening in their lives. We are going to be amazed to see what God is going to do.