For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, NIV)
What are you waiting for? This time if year, it might well be the Masters. We’ve reached the first of April and the ceremonial opening tee shots are only 10 days away. More than this, the folks at Augusta National have promised to deliver a teaser for the first time this year. The pines will echo the pure strikes of the world’s top amateur women come this Saturday, and the storied course will start filling our television screens several days early.
The Masters is worth the wait each year. For some of you, it will be more than just golf on TV. Golf on your local course will come again soon, as the spring thaw releases those greens back to you and your foursome. It’s time to get outside, to walk freely, and to play.
When pictures of that great street in the eternal city shining its “pure golf, like transparent glass” fill your eyes, you take another step and another.But even the lushest golf courses and the broadest landscapes are only stuff of this world. Temporary. Living and dying in relentless cycle. Golfers and their playgrounds come and go. And so we do best to wait for something more.
The Scriptures foretell a future for those who walk with God, whose hearts are with Christ.
Maybe this is the part of our faith that sustains you. Around you, the circumstances of life have been so harsh, recently or relentlessly, so that without the hope of eternity, you’d have nothing to buoy your soul. When pictures of that great street in the eternal city shining its “pure golf, like transparent glass” fill your eyes, you take another step and another. You may even find yourself able to dance.
But it is no less possible that this hope seems distant, surreal, too hard to grasp in a way that compels you. It hints of that heavenly-mindedness we have been told is no earthly good. That trope may not be accurate, but we are still far more comfortable serving Jesus here, doing the work of the kingdom under our feet rather than the one in our mind’s eye.
I’d wish the first perspective for you, but I’m a strong pragmatist myself. I’m not easily drawn to what’s “out there.” Until I remember what waiting for the Masters can teach me. Beauty lies ahead. If I can anticipate something of this world so eagerly, as I did birthdays when I was a child, then I can turn to vivid accounts of the Gospels and rise in my spirit to the revelation that this is the Savior with whom I will spend every new day of eternity. This is the “blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
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Jeff Hopper
April 1, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.