Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. (2 Corinthians 13:5, NIV)
If we can in Christ claim our salvation and demonstrate its reality by the way he lives through us, then we know how valuable it is to keep assessing, asking ourselves the hard questions.Phil Mickelson recently told David Feherty on the latter’s eponymous Golf Channel show that in order to be a good golfer, you need to be either very smart or very dumb. Dumb golfers, he said, breeze through the round with hardly a care, while smart golfers calculate and adjust so their misses are minimized and their best shots are maximized.
You might be able to look at your usual golf partners and identify who’s who. And from this safe distance, it’s probably OK for me to ask you straight up: Which are you, the smart golfer or the dumb one?
Whatever your answer, I have found that the most consistent golfers are those who assess what they have going on the golf course on any given day. A “dumb golfer” may not know the mechanics of his swing well enough to make an on-course adjustment, but he relaxes into playing a different type of game that day and scoring well all the same. A “smart golfer” hearkens back to her last range session or lesson and makes the mechanical adjustment needed to salvage the round.
And the rest of us? Well, there’s a word for the rest of us: frustrated.
Self-assessment is valuable in many endeavors, and we find support for it even in the pages of Scripture. Of course, God is probably not going to press us to evaluate our golf games. What God wants all of us to assess is our faith: How is my walk with Christ?
The answer to that question begins with a more foundational examination: Am I in the faith at all? When we show little interest in personal righteousness, when we make excuses for our sin, when we experience no joy in salvation (either our own or the salvation of another), when we aren’t interested in God’s Word or building a relational connection with him via prayer—all of these are serious concerns that demand a response if we care for the state of our soul.
If we can in Christ claim our salvation and demonstrate its reality by the way he lives through us, then we know how valuable it is to keep assessing, asking ourselves the hard questions. We’re not afraid to uncover our weaknesses to gain new strengths. This is the road to mature faith.
—
Jeff Hopper
March 31, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES:
Golf & Life Fundamentals 1: Alignment
Golf & Life Fundamentals 2: The Grip
Golf & Life Fundamentals 3: Posture
Golf & Life Fundamentals 5: Target Focus
Golf & Life Fundamentals 6: Positivity
Golf & Life Fundamentals 7: Finishing