Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21, ESV)
As I write, my favorite golf shoes are sitting in a shallow bath of mineral spirits in an aluminum baking pan getting their soles cleaned. Why? Here’s the dirty truth.
Yesterday we had a wonderful Links Fellowship at my club. The course is closed for overseeding, an annual ritual much of the country doesn’t have to endure, but the clubhouse is open, and so is a small part of the driving range.
There is evil in the world and it is often unavoidable.While the course is closed, all kinds of things get done to the property: painting, a deep cleaning of dining areas, and sealing the parking lot, to name a few. But members and their guests can come for lunch or meetings and hit some balls on the range.
So our Links Fellowship decided to meet, then a few of us walked out to the range and continued to encourage one another. Two of us walked from there to our cars, wearing our golf shoes, traversing perhaps 100 yards of parking lot that had been sealed just six hours earlier.
As I walked back to the clubhouse alone, I decided I’d be fine taking the same path. And I would have, except that a visitor stopped me in the parking lot to ask me some questions about the club. As we talked (and of course we talked about Links), I could feel my spikes sinking slightly into the sealant.
The story is told of a young girl who wanted to go out with some other girls of questionable repute. Her father said she could go, but after she put on her good clothes he asked her to help him move some firewood into the house. She obliged, but when she finished she realized that her clothes were now soiled. He pointed out that the girls she wanted to go out with could have the same effect on her soul.
Tar and bark and things that make us dirty on the outside are everywhere, but they can be easily seen—if only we would look. Not so easily seen, perhaps, are those things that soil our spirit. There is evil in the world, and unlike the parking lot I walked through, it is often unavoidable. But do not let it overcome you. Don’t let it get on you, and don’t let it get in you.
I’m using mineral spirits to clean my shoes, but the Holy Spirit is the perfect antidote for evil. Let the Holy Spirit dwell in you richly, and overcome the evil you encounter with good.
—
Lewis Greer
October 17, 2017
Copyright 2017 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.