Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12, NIV)
I wanted to be just like Ben Hogan. Grey slacks, white shirt, and smoking L&M cigarettes. I was 15 in 1959 when he won the last of five Colonial victories, which also happened to be his last PGA Tour victory at age 46.
I witnessed it up close. I touched him. I learned about pronation and supination and that a fade was good.
So, what do you want to be in this real world now? I know the Sunday School answer: “I want to be like Jesus.” How do you get there?
This is not a to-do list. That was done when He died for us. I make too many to-do lists with sticky notes and reminders on my Evernote program and in my phone.
The rest of this devotional will be about a to be list. Don’t just read my list. I hope this will inspire you to make your own list and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to become who God created you to be.
1. To be more joyful. Joyful in all circumstances. Our verse in Romans 12 says, “Be joyful in hope.” He promised.
2. To be more patient, especially in affliction. 2 Corinthians 4:17 says, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.”
3. To be more faithful in prayer. I know He has heard my prayer, and it is in His lap. Jesus says, “Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24, NASB)
4. To be humble. Real humility. I have seen this in others, and I want that. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.”
5. To be a good neighbor and a better friend. Martin Luther King said of the Good Samaritan, “It is not what will happen to me if I stop and help, but what will happen to him if I do not.”
6. To be a good listener. I think you know what I mean.
7. To be salt and light. Matthew 5:13 and 14 says that we are the salt and light to the world. That is who God intended us to be. Jim Branch says it well in his Blue Book: “We don’t need to manufacture or manipulate or create—thus no contriving, no forcing, no holding back. I think that is why Jesus says that we are the salt of the earth, and we are the light of the world. Salt and light do not have to work hard to be salt and light; they just must be what they were intended to be. Lord Jesus, help us to be who and what you created us to be, for then, and only then, will we have any hope of doing what you have called us to do.”
What would you do with your life if you were guaranteed you could not fail? I think the better question is, “What is the one thing you would be if you could not fail?”
We all respond in a unique way. Are you becoming who God created you to be? If not, why not? Today is a good day to be salt and light in this dim, rugged world. The world desperately needs the light from the people who follow truth and the way of Jesus.
Prayer – Thank You for giving me the ability and Your Spirit to enable me to be Your light to whom You desire.