Paul’s Paradox: The Radical Middle

There is a difference between balance and what a friend calls living in search of the radical middle.

Balance suggests stasis – living without extremes and perhaps in complacency. The radical middle is all about living to the max while balancing two opposing tendencies.

Think of the relationship between building a strong family life and efforts spent at work. The radical middle is where you succeed at both. This holds true for managing personal and public time. Nothing gets wasted while you press for progress.

Paul’s advice to Timothy spoke to riches and material things when he reminded him that godliness with contentment is great gain. Yet this man traveled the world as few did during his time. Travel costs alone required a lot of money. So riches aren’t the problem; a wrong attitude is.

Our problems with money begin when we press the financial thing so hard that we lose sight of the ministry. There is a radical middle where we excel at both without losing our souls to either one.

Paul certainly expressed discontent when he described himself straining to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of him. Yet he was no ascetic. He said he pressed hard into the future. These are not the statements of a contented man.

So where is the radical middle in Paul’s life, and how does it speak to you and me?

I find it in these words, “…my life means nothing to me. My only goal is to finish the race. I want to complete the work the Lord Jesus has given me.”

Perhaps seeking to finish the race is the place of the radical middle. Paul offered no suggestion of racing against any other person, church or ministry. He put down those people competing against him in Corinth yet he shows no signs of competition with them.

That radical middle appears in the unique goal God gave each of us. We can turn contentment into complacency or we can amp up pressure to achieve numbers into something morbid.

The original Living Bible sheds light on the radical middle, “Steady plodding brings prosperity; hasty speculation brings poverty” (Proverbs 21:5 TLB). I’m plodding toward the goals I perceive from God. These goals include my family, my assigned ministry and even my financial life—but they are his goals that I’ve made my own.