You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. (James 2:19)
Maybe you’ve seen or heard the phrase, “That’s What I Do, I Play Golf and Know Things.” I wondered who said that in the first place. Google’s AI revealed, “The phrase is often used as a humorous or self-deprecating statement when someone is playing poorly. It’s more of a common saying than a quote from a specific individual.”
While the search results mention other notable golf quotes, here’s my reality: I know more about golf than I can play. I’ve watched countless training videos, read numerous articles on improving my game, attended various clinics, consulted with many teaching pros, and gone to a golf school for a week.
I’ve taken thousands of practice swings without a club in elevators, bathrooms, and my living room. While some people count sheep to get to sleep, I take a mental walk through every hole of every course I have played or watched on TV.
When someone asks me about their swing, I usually have already identified what the problem is, and I know what to tell them to improve because I know more about golf than I can play. I’m eager to learn more, and I’m passionate about playing the game, but I have not been able to translate that into better scores.
The same thing often rings true in my spiritual life. I know more about the Christian life than I actually live. I can often pinpoint what causes my spiritual blahs, and I can share with others what I understand about God and the principles from the Bible. I’ve memorized numerous passages of Scripture, studied commentaries, attended Bible studies regularly, and sat under great teaching at my church.
But then a quote from Chuck Colson’s book, Loving God, prompted me to engage in some serious introspection. Maybe you don’t recognize the name. Colson served as the special counsel to the White House under President Nixon and was the first person imprisoned for Watergate-related charges. Through this process, he became a follower of Christ and an articulate spokesman for the Christian faith. He founded Prison Fellowship.
Many of us have had a defining moment in our faith life. In this confession from Colson, he experienced a period of unusual spiritual dryness that he couldn’t seem to escape. The text that ended his drought and made him thirst for more of God was the sixth chapter of Isaiah.
Abbreviating Colson’s reflections, when God’s glory came down into his life, his view of God, his view of himself, and his view of his future changed. When we encounter God’s glory, it disrupts everything in our lives. Colson talks about it this way: there’s a difference between God as a concept and God as a reality.
It’s the difference between believing in God and having an experience of the glory of God. It wasn’t as if Isaiah didn’t believe in God before he walked into the temple in chapter 6… he did. But God became more of a reality and not just a concept. That’s also been my experience.
Just like I know more golf than I can play, I know more about the Christian life than I am living. Like Colson, I’ve had a moment when God moved from being an intellectual concept to being a reality. Have you?
Prayer: Open the eyes of my heart, Lord. Like Isaiah and like Charles Colson, I want to see you and encounter you.