For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23, NASB)
Golf is not a game of perfect. Neither is life. We all have issues.
In golf, some days are easier than others, but we will never get it right. A true champion in golf learns how to return a good score even on those days when all the breaks go the other way. You know what I mean. The golfer who overcomes adversity and continues to have a good attitude is the one who ultimately wins.
In life too, we all struggle from time to time here on earth. No one will get out alive unless Jesus returns first. We have all been infected with the sin disease. Jim Morrison sang in one of his songs, “No one gets out alive,” a fact proved by his untimely death.
Here is the major difference in the life of the one following Jesus—anyone can ask Jesus to forgive his or her sin and live forever. Anyone and everyone. God has given us the ultimate cure to make us immune from death: amazing grace through faith in what Jesus has already done for us. He died for our sin problem and promised an eternal life with him. What a win!
Jesus promised that believers “will never die” (John 11:26). When we take our last breath here, we take our first breath there. We step from time into eternity and from death into paradise. So what do we do about this wonderful bit of good news? We simply rejoice and tell others with our life.
It is our honor and responsibility to share God’s cure with the world. We do this with our Spirit-filled conversation, our unselfish love, and our care and encouragement of fellow strugglers along the way. This is about how we live life. It is not just about our knowledge of Scripture or what we say. Our simple plan is to lead others to God’s plan now and in the life to come.
Last month I attended the funeral of a very close friend. She and I had grown up together and stayed friends for over 60 years. She was a sinner who knew God’s grace and had accepted Jesus as her Savior. As I sat there hearing all the beautiful God stories of her imperfect life here, I reflected on the passage from Ecclesiastes 7:2: “It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, because that is the end of every man, and the living takes it to heart.”
You see, in the house of mourning, we hear words that are life-giving. We hear words that overcome this flawed life and lead to the eternal life later. We heard those words again this week, with our reflections on both the death and resurrection of Jesus. We’re part of a perfect plan to share these wonders with others all the time, but with them ringing so freshly in our ears we can eagerly take their message to the world today.
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Randy Wolff
April 7, 2015
Copyright 2015 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.