And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:10-11, ESV)
Golf, or in my case golf ministry, can take you to some amazing places.
Recently I was invited by a Links Player to attend a dinner in support of an Arizona ministry. He and his wife had purchased a table, and he filled it with Links Players from his Fellowship, which I happen to teach.
The featured speaker that evening was Mike Pompeo, the recent Secretary of State who talks openly of his faith in Christ. He also served three terms as a US Representative from Kansas. My wife and I had the chance to shake his hand and get a picture with him.
It was an excellent evening in every respect, including the delicious three-course dinner.
Just three days later I was at an event being held at the home of Barry Maguire, famous for his car-care products. He also had some TV shows, and he has some amazing cars in his 12- (or is it 15-?) car garage.
These days Mr. Maguire and his wife only do things for ministry. They are incredibly generous and very serious about Jesus and evangelism. He is not, I’m sorry to say, a golfer, and golf was only tangentially involved in my invitation.
Jesus didn’t care what the people he ate dinner with had done in the past, good or bad; he cared about their future.
The speaker was Nick Vujicic, an Australian man born without arms or legs. Now 38 years old, married and the father of four, Nick has spoken to more than 3 billion people. That evening there were about 80 of us enjoying a beautiful setting and heavy hors d’oeuvres.
Six days later I had a lunch and golf get-together for Links Fellowship leaders in Arizona. Men and women, some with us almost 10 years and some brand new to Links Players. Wonderful people all, who ate hamburgers and hot dogs and macaroni salad.
All three events were incredible in their own ways, and I’m blessed to have been part of them.
While you may know the names of Pompeo and Maguire and Vujicic, you probably wouldn’t know any of the people at our Links gathering. But Jesus knows every one of them.
The Pharisees cared about reputations. It’s easy to fall into the same mistake, because the swells can be pretty impressive. There I was among them, and even here I could be accused of “name dropping.”
Speaking of which, Jesus hung out one afternoon with Moses and Elijah, then told his followers not to tell anyone.
Jesus didn’t care what the people he ate dinner with had done in the past, good or bad; he cared about their future. We need to focus on the same thing.
Let’s stop dropping names and start getting more names into the Book of Life. That’s what Jesus was all about.
—
Lewis Greer
May 12, 2021
Copyright 2021 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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