Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They did so, and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. (John 2:8-9, NIV)
There are no fundamentals, really, when you are faced with a 100-yard shot that has to be played under very low tree branches, then up a steep hill, with a cart path in the way, and a severe downslope to the right of the green.
I found myself here a week ago, at wedge distance with no chance of hitting a wedge but a tiny chance of hitting the green. That is, I wasn’t forced to pitch out, but I wasn’t going to be relying on any swing I’d worked on at the range either. If you’ve played golf, you’ve been there, at that place where the artists of the game say you just have to be “in the moment” and—to borrow from our friend David Cook—paint a picture of what you want to do.
Pull off a shot like this, and you’ve made your own day on the golf course. But is this one of those places where we’d be missing the mark to transfer golf to life? Shouldn’t we be cautious about living life “in the moment?”
The wedding at Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle by changing water to wine, may be very helpful in answering this important question. There is no direct instruction of God in this passage, but there is a peek into the character of Jesus, which is a principal way we followers of Jesus discern what to do.
The hosts at the wedding were facing significant embarrassment at the prospect of running out of wine before the feast was over. Some teachings of the time likened a host who offered an invitation but could not fulfill it to a thief! Jesus, made aware by his mother of the absence of more wine, understood the shame that would land upon the groom’s family.
But what water did he have at his disposal? Only that which would be poured into jars “used by the Jews for ceremonial washing.” Clean water, pure for the sake of its purpose. Wine, though, is not pure in this way. To use these pots to mix impure wine was an affront to the traditions of purification.
Consistently in the Gospels, however, we find Jesus meeting personal needs above upholding traditions. In this way, we might say that Jesus lived “in the moment,” recognizing what must be done in a given situation.
This is not the kind of self-serving, doin’-it-my-way living that many mean when they say they are living in the moment, but it is a departure from accepted fundamentals for the sake of mercy and love. Jesus functioned foremost from the Father’s heart. You and I should do the same, which—perhaps above all else—pushes us to live by the Spirit day by day and hour by hour, so that we know when to vary from the established for the sake of on-point ministry.
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Jeff Hopper
January 30, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.