For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. (1 Thessalonians 4:16, ESV)
Despite no Masters this past weekend, you could re-watch the glory and joys of past years’ champions. ESPN, CBS, Masters.com and a few other online outlets replayed the 2018 Par-3 contest along with Sunday’s rounds from 1986, 2012, 1997, 2013, 2005, 2004, and 2019. I remember watching bits and pieces of all those Masters live, and while I wasn’t alive for Jack Nicklaus’ iconic win in 1986, I remember seeing snippets from highlight reels and hearing my coach talk about what a huge win it was.
Watching the tournament with foreknowledge of who would win did not diminish the quality of the golf or my enjoyment in watching. I faintly remembered how things would play out and was surprised at a few shots and putts that just missed. I especially enjoyed listening to the announcers comment on who they thought would win, what they ‘needed’ to do to win, and whom they expected to go on to do great things in their careers. Kudos to Peter Kostis for nailing it on the head about Tiger Woods and the probability of him winning the Grand Slam before ever winning his first Masters!
Fun Masters Fact: Tiger’s opening 40 on the front nine, Thursday in 1997, was followed by a blazing 30 on the back nine. He kept right on blazing the rest of the weekend to win by 12 strokes, en route to setting or tying 27 Masters records that year.
We have hope in the one true Master. Jesus is the true and better Masters Champion.In watching past Masters, there was no anxiety or concern about who might win or how the eventual winner would recover after a three-putt or sprayed driver. I watched confidently and expectantly to see how they would bounce back or how the field would fall away. There was freedom to pay extra close attention to details and not get caught up thinking about the end result.
In Christ, we know the eventual outcome. Satan will be defeated once and for all and sin will no longer have dominion. I am hard pressed to think of a more uncertain time we have experienced worldwide, and yet there is certainty found in the Lord.
The war has been won and yet the battles still rage in our day-to-day life. May we not lose sight of the Victor, who we have on our side. We have hope in the one true Master. Jesus is the true and better Masters Champion. While he has already conquered sin and death on the cross and by rising from the grave, we still fight daily against the cosmic powers over this present earth.
The struggles of unemployment, loss, relationship conflict, sickness, hunger and more are heavy. We would be remiss to not share the hope of Jesus with others in this time. There is hope that one day God will make all things new. There will be no more sin and sadness; we can have peace and forgiveness in him now.
No matter the means, I pray that God would use this time of uncertainty in each of our lives and our neighbors’ lives to redirect our attention to him. May God soften our hearts towards him because he is what we truly need. Praise God the victory belongs to him, let us keep pressing into him as we pray and look longingly and expectantly to his return.
—
Aimee Neff
April 16, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.