So they shook the dust off their feet as a warning to them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit. (Acts 13:51-52, NIV)
On a day when a great putter “sees the line,” you can count on watching that player make a bunch of putts. Confidence takes over and even the longest putts look like they’re going in every time.
I have always been a good putter, but not like that. My confidence peters out. If I make a string of putts early in the round, I start talking to myself about the law of averages. Can I just say that data never wins over confidence? When you start telling yourself that you probably won’t make many more putts today, you won’t make many more putts today.
Confidence is one of golf’s great mysteries. Like momentum in most every sport, you just hope to ride it as long as you can. This is why in recent years, as sport psychology has become more broadly prevalent, the hunt for confidence has been replaced with a commitment to process. Because confidence will always wane sooner or later, it’s good to be able to trust in a routine that can’t be so easily disrupted.
Their confidence was held fast by something far greater than their own courage: the Holy SpiritConfidence can again become a casualty when trouble comes in life. Here’s an example: If you were heavily invested heading into the 2008 recession, it is probable that you left that downward season a bit gun shy. You may have moved to much more secure (though less promising) positions for a time. Closer to the heart, you may have been spurned in a marriage proposal or lost a child in pregnancy. These are gut-wrenching experiences, so it’s no wonder you’d be more tentative the next time out.
In the accounts of Acts, we read of many times when the apostles and their companions could have fallen into a hole of lost confidence. Their ministry was rejected and even outlawed. Their detractors came at them with riots and rocks. It would have been easy to step into the shadows and turn to “resource ministry,” mailing out a monthly newsletter from a place of safety. But their confidence was held fast by something far greater than their own courage: the Holy Spirit.
Confidence to do what you know is right and good, especially when trials and tragedy would rob you of your usual assurances, comes from a source simultaneously beyond you and within you if you are one who believes in Jesus.
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Jeff Hopper
August 27, 2021
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.