In sports, we refer to the area around the center of mass of a baseball bat, a tennis racket or the head of a golf club as the “sweet spot.”  It is that area that is the most effective part with which to hit the ball.  If the bat, racket, or club connects near the sweet spot, they vibrate very little, feel solid, and produce the maximum results.  When a baseball batter connects on the sweet spot (versus near the handle or the end of the bat), we say they “barreled it up.”   Sports equipment manufacturers work at increasing the “sweet spot” of their products as a selling point.

     As Christians, we are instruments in God’s hands. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10). When we become part of the body of Christ, the church, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are equipped with spiritual gifts that enable us to serve and help build up the body.  In the Apostle Paul’s discussion of spiritual gifts in his letter to the church at Corinth, he wrote: “But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good…the Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills” (I Cor. 12:7, 11).  In Romans 12, I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, Paul lists some of these gifts (I’m sure the list is not exhaustive). Each believer has at least one gift but no one has all the gifts. That compels us to work together for the “common good ” of the body, to see it mature and become equipped for every “work of service” (Eph. 4:12).  

     Not only does God provide us with spiritual gifts, but He also provides places of ministry for those special, God-given abilities (I Cor. 11:4,5). Each of us, as members of the body of Christ, has a special niche where we can contribute the most effectively.  Paul uses the analogy of the human body (I Cor. 12:12-26) and how each part plays an important role and is dependent upon all the others.  Our eyes are obviously a very important part of our body, but what if we were just one big eye! How grotesque!  And, “If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?…And the eye can’t say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’;  or again, the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary” (vv. 17-21).  Every member of the body is important.  We need hands and feet and ears and a nervous system and organs and circulatory system and respiratory system. Each part of the body is equipped by God, in His amazing design, to play a special, important role. Even “the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary…And if one member of the body suffers, all the members suffer with it” (vv. 22, 26).  If one member of our body is hurting or not operating properly, it affects our whole body.  

     The same is true for Christ’s body, the church.  Each of us has an important role to play, a special niche where we fit best–our sweet spot, where we are–in dependence upon Christ–using the gift(s) God has granted us in the area of ministry He provides.  It is there we will be most efficient and effective and be the most fulfilled.  

     When we lived in Portland, Oregon while I worked in engineering at Hyster Company, we had our two children, Heidi and Grant. We attended Montavilla Baptist Church where a there was a wonderful lady, Mrs. Forsman, who worked with nursery. She was a gifted teacher who had tried ineffectively to teach a variety of age groups. Then she gave the nursery class a try and found her sweet spot.  She loved it, and was so good at it that when our children were sick and unable to attend, they literally cried–they loved Mrs. Forsman so much!  That’s how it is when we find our sweet spot of ministry. We enjoy it a lot and–when depending on the Lord–are very effective at whatever it is, for it is God at work in and through us (I Cor. 12:6).  

      You can still hit a baseball off the handle or end of the bat. You can get a tennis ball over the net even if you don’t get it on the sweet spot, and you can hit a golf ball even if you miss sweet spot on the club head, but when you hit the sweet spot, you will have more control, can hit the ball harder and further and it will feel good and solid when you make contact. Well, the same is true in our Christian life and ministry. It is important to find out how God has equipped you and find that special niche of ministry–your “sweet spot,” and focus on that. 

     Have you found YOUR “sweet spot”?

Forever His,

Pastor Dave