PLATE DISCIPLINE AS CHRISTIAN DISCIPLESHIP
I learned a new term in baseball this year: plate discipline.
When a major league batter steps up to the plate, it is the most crucial ability they possess in the moment. Plate discipline is the ability to swing only at pitches in the strike zone, requiring strike zone awareness, patience, and adaptability. Plate discipline gets runners on base, and runners on base lead to more runs, which in turn leads to more wins. It's an easy concept to describe, but difficult to master.
I learned the term because I watched many games by one particular major league team this year, and as it turns out, they are in the World Series. (I won't comment on the team's name. That's not my point.) I wondered about the secret to their success, and I heard the term plate discipline used by several announcers on TV. Now that I understand the concept, I agree with them.
One reason many people watch baseball is to relax from work. Inevitably, though, when I watch baseball to relax, it reminds me that the players are at work. What is it like for 162 baseball games played over six months of the year to be someone's work? An at-bat is the daily work of a baseball player.
Daily work brings two common challenges. First, there is the challenge of not blowing off the mundane work. Wednesday midmorning to Wednesday afternoon can be one of those times where it is hard for anyone to bring their whole self to their work. There is an opposite second challenge. It's not to buckle under the pressure of our most high-stakes work.
On a Wednesday afternoon in June, I imagine a major league player struggles to keep their plate discipline. It would be easy to blow off the importance of this at-bat. They haven't played half of their games yet. The attendance at the game may be low. The stakes seemingly aren't high. But as the season ends, the stakes are raised with every at-bat. Who goes to the World Series and who stays home may be decided by one at-bat in one game. Could you withstand that pressure, or would you buckle?
Excellent plate discipline keeps batters from blowing off seemingly low-stakes at-bats, and it protects them from buckling under the ones that have high stakes. Plate discipline treats every at-bat as important, but no at-bat as ultimate.
In a game where the players fail in their most common task over sixty to seventy percent of the time, plate discipline is a key to longevity. Plate discipline keeps a batter from blowing off or buckling under.
Mark 3:14-15 says: And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.
When Jesus chose the twelve, he knew they would have encounters they would be tempted to blow off and high-stakes encounters when they would buckle. The plate discipline of the disciples was to be with Jesus, no matter where they were. This was a group of men who, in the gospel accounts, seemed to fail sixty to seventy percent of the time at their daily tasks. But they stayed with Jesus.
In John 6:66-68, many disciples turned away from following Jesus when he gave a hard saying. He asked the twelve if they too would leave. Peter replied, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God."
Home. Run. Peter.
The plate discipline of Christian discipleship is to start with Jesus, stay with Jesus, and continually return to Jesus in all of life. He is the ball with whom we make contact. He is the one whom we follow. He is the one who ultimately brings us through and brings us home.
Plate discipline now is to stay faithful to him through reading his word, praying to him, and worshiping with his people. Do this and you will find yourself somewhere much greater than any World Series. You will find yourself in an eternal home.