I’ve always tended toward being obsessive-hardly a complimentary adjective. Perhaps our negative view of obsessiveness comes not from the quality in and of itself but because it is too narrowly focussed. When this happens, the obsessed person becomes imbalanced, as resources flow to one side of his personality. Well-meaning counselors might suggest that a person spread out his attention to find balance. But, what if obsession found an all-encompassing object.
For years I’ve heard that a balanced person puts God first, family second, work third. To put numbers to it, one might say we should give 50% of our resources to God, 30% to family, 20% to work. Of couse this formula would never work. A “balanced” approach never does. God deserves no less than 100% and in fact by giving him his due, somehow we’re able to give 100% to everything else. Maybe this is what Jesus meant when he said, “The one who would lose his life will find it.”