If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. (1 John 2:29, NIV)
Over the years, I’ve found that having the right equipment is necessary for me to play my best golf. It doesn’t have to be the most expensive club or name brand, but it must be the right lie and loft, have the right flex shaft and overall swing weight, and of course, it has to look good. For me, when I find a club I like, it stays in the bag for a long time—especially 3-woods. Other than trying a couple out experimentally, I’ve only used two different 3-woods over the last 17 years.
For more than 10 years, I had the “Super Whopper” (that was actually the name it was given by the manufacturer), and yes, in my family it was known to leap large buildings in a single bound! Other than the 60-footer my dad made in the final round to win the 1983 U.S. Open, the Super Whopper hit the second most bragged about shot in Nelson family history!
For the sake of time I’ll save you all the wonderful intricacies of this glorious shot, but from 255 yards on a cool day and dead into the wind I hit my second shot eight feet from the hole on the eighteenth at Pebble Beach. What makes it so memorable is that I played the whole round terribly, but left my first and only round at Pebble Beach with a wonderful, redemptive memory!
Yes, I had to have made my best swing and struck the ball just right, but without having the perfect club in my hands, shots like those could never happen. And according to Scripture, neither would it be possible for us to be righteous or do what is good on our own if it were not for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
We gain this insight from scripture in 1 John. Over the next several days, we will dive into the book of 1 John and see what it has to say about pleasing God and being born of him. There is, however, one thing that John established as the foundation for this topic. I wanted to highlight it as we look into these characteristics: it is God who is righteous, not us. Through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, and only through him, may we declare our righteousness and do good works.
So just like it would not have been possible for me to hit most of my best shots without clubs perfect for me, neither would it be possible for us to ever do what is righteous in God’s eyes if we don’t first accept his Son as the perfect Savior and Redeemer of our sins.
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Josh Nelson
January 7, 2013
Copyright 2013 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.