Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB)
A number of jokes are floating around about how people can’t wait for 2020 to be over. It has been, to put it mildly, a different kind of year. Much of it has been on the negative side. But for me, there has been this positive: Despite growing older, I am playing the best golf of my life.
Not every time I go out, of course, but my normal round is several strokes better than ever before, and I have had a number of rounds this season that were by far the best of my life, resulting in lowering my handicap significantly. Therein lies an issue I wasn’t expecting to have to deal with: Who am I as a golfer? This has come to light for two reasons. The first one is an increased expectation (and confidence) that I can consistently play better than I ever have. The second one comes on those days when I am playing like my old self on a bad day. That is to say, while I have had really good rounds this season, I have had my share of really bad ones as well, even by my old standards. I am, in many ways, going through a phase of being two very different golfers and not knowing which one will show up at the course. These two disparate outcomes have motivated me to attempt to figure out the difference. My conclusion thus far is that most of the strokes I give back to the course are the result of mental errors.
I have no idea how long the new golfer me will be around and how long I will get to enjoy playing well.
Come to think of it, that is pretty much how I often live my life. I am two very different people. There is the old me living apart from God and his ways and not really interested in seeking him or living the way he wants me to, building memories that stick with me and still haunt me if I allow them to. I do not like the old me. Then there is the new me, often wondering how I got here and dumbfounded at my status as his child, yet thoroughly enjoying living out a life completely dependent on him and the transforming power of his words with a future that knows no end. How can I balance the two?
Fortunately Scripture gives us plenty of advice, summed up in this verse Paul writes in Philippians 3: “…forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Yes, I believe the old me is dead and that I am a “new creature” who is to take hold of the eternal life God has granted me.
I have no idea how long the new golfer me will be around and how long I will get to enjoy playing well. How long will I be able to forget that last skulled iron or missed putt and move more easily onto the next shot? Sooner or later, my golf skills will start slipping. The new me in Christ, however, gets to live forever. Forever is a very long time.
—
Bob Kuecker
October 28, 2020
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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