Overbalanced

Individuals and institutions have a tendency to become overbalanced when they focus on one thing to the exclusion, or minimization, of others.  Although these may be good, righteous things, when they become our focus, it can leave us out of sync.  In How People Change, Lane and Tripp discuss several types of Christian externalism.  The authors describe them in much more detail, but briefly, they are:

Formalism--"the gospel is reduced to participation in church meetings and ministries in the church."
Legalism--the focus here is on keeping rules as a way of earning God's favor.
Mysticism--"the gospel is reduced to dynamic emotional and spiritual experiences." 
Activism--Activists focus on fighting whatever evils or ills they encounter around them (abortion, human trafficking). 
Biblicism--"the Bible is reduced to a mastery of biblical content and theology" rather than a focus on the Gospel.
Psychology-ism--Jesus is seen as a great therapist who heals our emotional needs.
Social-ism--Church becomes a social club and a way to have interpersonal needs met. 

I am sure that there are others as well.  Each of these isms involves a disturbance of good, righteous things.  For example, serving God in the church is admirable, but an overbalanced person may not show any evidence of gospel transformation, even though involved in many activities. 

As I read through the authors' descriptions of each of these things, I bristled at how Christians I know manifest each of these things in different measure.  Then, I looked in a mirror and noticed a log right there in my eye.  Although, I have seen evidences of many of these things in my life from time to time, the one that captures me is Biblicism.  The authors write (substituting my name so it sinks in more fully), "In [Jason's] Christianity, communion, dependency, and worship of Christ have been replaced by a drive to master the content of scripture and systematic theology.  [Jason] is a theological expert, but he is unable to live by the grace he can define with such technical precision. He has invested a great deal of time and energy mastering the word, but he does not allow the word to master him."  I know this is a danger I face and I pray that God would pour afresh upon me the living waters of His gospel each day.

Father, help me not to love theology more than I love You.  Help me to read your living word as a love letter rather than a textbook.