They mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. (Psalm 106:35-36, NIV)
The word leaking out from the USGA is that those who like their US Opens narrow and penal are going to get their wish at Shinnecock Hills in June. None of that Erin Hills folly where golfers could choose their own line of attack then do their best to execute.
I wrote that last line carefully. I did not want it to show any bias. But perhaps it did. It depends on how you read it. Am I a narrow man when it comes to golf course architecture, or am I a wide one?
If you want to know the truth, when it comes to my national championships, I think they should reflect the country that hosts them. America is a vast country, offering a wide variety of golfing choices. To insist that the US Open, of all tournaments, must be played the same way year after year is to ignore that central word: open. How open can a championship be if its nature sends the message that only one style of play is rewarded here?
Narrowness and wideness should be familiar concepts to those who know the red letters in their Bibles. In the longest string of those crimson lines we are given, Jesus said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14).
It sure looks like we should be choosing the narrow! But here’s the rub: no one wants to be called such a thing. In our day, to be narrow is to possess a closed mind, a fixed way of going about one’s business, maybe even an unwavering stubbornness. In a biblical sense, if the road to life is Shinnecock Hills, the road to destruction is Erin Hills. But when brushing up with your friends in this world, which “Hills” do you really want to die on? Probably not the one that gets called narrow.
We know as readers of the whole Scripture that those the Son sets free are free indeed. We are not under the law—so much so that Paul declared “all things are lawful.” But he went on to say that while this is true, neither are all things beneficial. And here is where we get the balance we must so often strike in our faith.
God’s people in the Old Testament fell into deep trouble when they decided it was more comfortable (read less risky) to mix in with their neighbors than to stand apart. We might even say that they were, like Paul, being all things to all people. Except that they forgot the narrowness necessary to enter life. Paul didn’t. He wrote that though mixing in, he never lost his purpose: to save some (see 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
The narrow way is the gospel way. While it may follow wandering courses, it never loses its sense of direction. It sticks to the centrality of Christ’s kingdom, which is to bring salvation and life to as many as we can—and to get there ourselves in the end: “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified from the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27).
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Jeff Hopper
May 16, 2018
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.