March 7, 2014
Sweet Spot
By Skip Heitzig

My brother is a golf pro in Palm Springs, and he tries to help me with my game every chance he gets. (It’s usually to no avail, but he tries anyway!) One time, he told me to get a bigger driver. "Skip, the new clubs today are more forgiving." I asked him what he meant, and he said, "Well, they're bigger so it’s harder to miss. And because they're big and hollow, they have a bigger sweet spot. That means you can hit the ball toward the heel or the toe of the club and still have a reasonable chance of getting a decent shot.”

I like those expressions, "more forgiving" and “bigger sweet spot.” Isn't that a great way to describe Christians whose lives have been indwelt by the power of God? Their heart is so large, they have such a big “sweet spot,” they are more forgiving.

On one occasion, Jesus was teaching the disciples about forgiveness (see Luke 17:3-5). He told them, "If somebody offends you seven times in a day and comes up to you and says, 'I repent,' you have to forgive him."

That's a pretty amazing “sweet spot”! Imagine somebody walking up to you and slapping you in the face, and then saying, "I'm sorry." You might say, "Okay, I forgive you." But 20 minutes later—whack!—he slaps you again and says, "I'm sorry." The second time, you're going to say, "Don't you ever do that again!" But the third time, you're going to say, "I'm not going to forgive you because that's not real repentance."

But Jesus said, "If he says to you ‘I repent,’ forgive him, even seven times." And so the disciples said, "Lord, increase our faith!" I think we can all relate to that! "I don't have that kind of faith, Lord! Help me!" It's a good thing to pray!

God knows our hearts; nothing is hidden from His sight (Hebrews 4:13). He knows when we sit down and rise up, and He knows what we think before we think it (see Psalm 139). So He knows that some people who name the name of Christ have a “sweet spot” that is pretty small and not very forgiving.

Robert Boyd Munger wrote a little booklet entitled "My Heart—Christ's Home." Just think of that! What a privilege, that when we invite Jesus Christ personally into our hearts and lives, He makes His residence there! And what an awesome thought, that He makes our “sweet spot” large enough to love as He loves, to forgive as He forgives, and to live as He wants us to live!

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