“But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:17, ESV)
A number of years ago I was playing golf with my friend Michael, an advanced beginner at the time. Making contact with the ball was not a problem for him, and he often hit it in the air and in the right general direction.
As he stood on the tee of a short par-3 he asked, “What club should I use to get over that stream?”
“Stream?” I was a little confused because I hadn’t seen the trickling water 30 yards in front of us. I was focused on the pin.
On the other hand, I was playing recently when I short-sided myself on a par-3 then tried to hit a flop shot over an intervening bunker to a pin on the back of a downhill green. My next shot was from the bunker (sure enough, it intervened), and though I hit it well it ran across the green into the fringe 20 feet from the hole. Double bogey. I went back, hit a perfect flop shot which went even farther over the green and into the rough. That too would have been a double.
What do you see when you play golf, or when you live your life? Do you see the problems? Do you see the possibilities? Do you see the path?As I walked to the next tee I said, “I should have just chipped onto the front of the green. I might have made a long putt for par and bogey is the worst I would have made.” But I didn’t see it at the time because I was focused on the pin.
What do you see when you play golf, or when you live your life? Do you see the problems? Do you see the possibilities? Do you see the path? The trick in golf is to acknowledge the problems in a rational way (no fear allowed), then focus on where you want the ball to go. Golf isn’t golf without hazards, after all, and intentionally avoiding those is part of what makes the game fun.
The question of what you see is a major theme in the Bible, too—but have you looked at it?
The righteous people who died before Jesus came missed him because of timing. Many not-quite-righteous people who were alive at the time of Jesus missed him because of the same blindness that kept me from seeing the front of the green. Too much focus on what you think is the target can make you fail to see what you should see.
And now? Do you see God at work in your day, in your decisions, in your heart? If not, let me encourage you to open your eyes a tiny bit wider. God is there, even if he looks a little different than you thought he might.
—
Lewis Greer
July 15, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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