Finding the Sweet Spot

I am by no means a baseball player. The one year I played (5th Grade) I had a .000 batting average. I generally love to watch and play, and I usually understand sports of all kinds: football, basketball, golf, ultimate frisbee, tennis, etc. But I'm not particularly fond of baseball. I know that saying that as a resident of Vincent is on par with blasphemy, but that's the way it is.

Despite my lack of enthusiasm for America's Game (let's be honest, baseball hasn't been America's game for at least a decade--thanks NFL and March Madness), I do understand some concepts. One of those is the "sweet spot." It's the place on a bat that provides the best power, acceleration, etc. that leads to greater hitting distance (i.e. more homeruns). But, the sweet spot isn't all over the bat. In fact it's just in...a spot. There's a balance between the regular spots and the bad spots and at the center of that balance is where you want to be.

Ministry is very similar. So is faith. There is a danger than I believe almost ALL ministries and believers fall into of going too far in one direction. All grace or no grace. Meeting on Sundays vs. never meeting. Republican or Democrat. Faith or works. Most disciples gravitate toward one extreme or another. My desire (although it is a great struggle for me) is to be balanced--to find that sweet spot that is the right location between two extremes. I think that's what God meant be "narrow [is] the road that leads to life." (Matthew 7.14)

So I guess the moral of the story, or the challenge is this: to find the sweet spot in your faith. Don't be blown back and forth between two extremes, but find that balanced, narrow sweet spot where God desire you (and me) to be.