… he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:13-16, ESV)
The Masters, the one tournament that has the potential to create immediate legends, is currently unfolding with intriguing storylines. If Tiger, against all odds, conjures another victory, some would certainly be tempted to use a word like “immortal.”
In 2005, after Tiger’s ball hung on the lip at 16, my neighbor asked me the following morning, “Is Tiger in the Bible?” He was serious. I was so caught off guard I just shook my head, indicating a negative answer. I would later talk with him about the Lion of Judah, not a tiger.
Suppose Rory triumphs and claims the Green Jacket; his name will be forever engraved in the annals of Legendary Golfers. A victory at Augusta would elevate him into the rarest of air, those who have achieved the Career Grand Slam. If there is such a thing as “rarified air,” clearly, this is it.
If Scotty wins his second Green Jacket, his journey to find a place among the immortals will be well underway. Inducting Scotty into this “class of five” before he accomplishes what Sarazen, Jones, Nicklaus, Player, and Woods accomplished is premature. On the other hand, I wouldn’t bet against Scotty.
If Jordan could regain his 2015 form, the magic would be felt around the world. His status among the immortals is hanging in the balance. No one doubts his record, but being listed among the “best ever” is not easily conferred. Win the PGA, and voila, or “wah-la,” as those in the South say it, and he is “in!”
There is just no week like the week of the Masters—none! It’s the first of the Majors. Year after year, we begin again. The search for golfing immortality can’t be achieved by winning the Masters, but it can’t be achieved without it, either! The “aura” that emanates from Augusta National casts its spell over us all.
When we use the word immortality as we have thus far, all we mean is that someone has achieved what so few have. We mean nothing more than generation after generation will hold them in the highest regard as they are remembered for climbing the highest mountains in our beloved game.
Switching the discussion from figurative immortality to the “Real McCoy” opens up an entirely different line of thought and discussion. After all, living forever, if possible, is no small matter.
The atheistic scholar Yuval Harari argues in his book Homo Deus that humanity will eventually conquer death. He writes, “Having reduced mortality from starvation, disease, and violence, we will now aim to overcome old age and even death itself…And having raised humanity above the beastly level of survival struggles, we will now aim to upgrade humans into gods and turn Homo sapiens into Homo deus.”
While Yuval entertains the idea of men becoming “gods,” Scripture tells us that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ to redeem and grant us immortality. And when Scripture discusses immortality, it is “dead earnest” about it.
The late J.I. Packer, author of Knowing God, summed up the Christian’s future at Christ’s return nicely: “We will be sinless creatures in deathless bodies.” Yep, unlike the Platonic notion of “immortal souls,” Jesus came to grant immortality of body and soul to those who would live by faith in him.
According to Jesus, only the Triune God possesses immortality. But he also promises to share it with those who will follow him.
Prayer: Father, open the eyes of those reading this devotional to the fact that you alone possess immortality and will share it in exchange with those who repent and believe in Jesus!