And He told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man was very productive. And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21 NASB)
The current issue of Golf Digest provides the fodder for today’s devotional. In the issue there is a monthly column written by the Undercover Tour Pro. It is a behind-the-scenes look at life on the PGA Tour. Over the past couple of years, he has given multiple clues who he is: a major winner, played for two decades, not an establishment guy, has a little chip on his shoulder, and rarely flies private jets. What got my attention in this February 2019 story was the revelation of his plan for retirement, “Our dream is to get a house overlooking a beach, with a bank account fat enough to keep up living in luxury deep into old age.”
If you followed the career of Byron Nelson, you know that his goal in playing the Tour was to make enough money to buy a ranch in Roanoke, Texas. I don’t recall Byron ever talking about having a “fat bank account” or “living in luxury.”
The stories of lottery winners are shocking enough for us to question whether or not we could really stand those kinds of riches.The Bible contains warnings of misplaced security, but the concept of living a humble and balanced life is not just a Christian concept. The world has plenty of examples of people seeking financial prosperity, only to be crushed after the money came in. The stories come from professional sports and via your state lottery: broken relationships, rifling through the once large nest egg, or drug and alcohol abuse. What would happen to us if we won the lottery? I think the stories are shocking enough for us to question whether or not we could really stand those kinds of riches.
Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21). Where we place our value is where our heart is.
Fortunately, reading along further in Golf Digest brings us to a feature on Bernhard Langer. If you follow Bernhard, you know he won the Masters twice, has had tremendous success on the Champions Tour (38 victories), and he attends the Bible study on the Tour. In his feature article, he talks about trying to keep his four children grounded by sharing his early European Tour life stories, including sleeping in his Ford Escort. He says he is not sure they can relate. Further along he mentions his now well-known acceptance speech at the 1993 Masters, “It is always very special to win the greatest tournament in the world, especially on Easter Sunday, when my Lord was resurrected.” Langer explains “many people dislike hearing a religious note from athletes, and most aren’t sure exactly why. But my faith is the most important facet of my life, and I will never change.” Sounds like a man with his treasure in the right place.
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Bill Euler
January 23, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.