“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33, NIV)
Have you caught your Ryder Cup breath?
Maybe you’re not like that—up at all hours living and dying, as they say, by the vagaries of your selected side. Maybe you didn’t save every hour to your DVR and tweet out your criticisms of this pairing and that one. Maybe you’re not eagerly awaiting your shipment of Ryder Cup attire so you can dress just like Rickie or Tommy or Bubba. Maybe, just maybe, you’re not obsessed.
Plenty of people are reserved enough on the outside. It’s one thing to be called “avid” or even “diehard.” But no one wants to be called a lunatic, so we hide our obsessions. We keep our deepest feelings private. Even when they are for Jesus.
If I walk away from golf, I can find many fine activities to replace it. If I walk away from Jesus, I have nothing to sustain me.This is what makes words like those we read above so hard to receive. With true confessions, we would likely all say that while we have acknowledged Jesus before some others—those we deem safe—we have, like Peter, disowned him when the audience might be hostile.
I would even tell you I’ve done the same with golf. Golfers are already considered by outsiders to fall among those whose tunnel vision for their beloved hobby is relentless. Get caught in a conversation with a golfer about golf, people think, and you might just bolt to show up early for your colonoscopy—like three years early. If that’s how non-golfers see golfers, I’ll shut up. I’ve got a reputation to protect.
But I hope you see with me the wide, wide difference between being obsessed with golf and being obsessed with Jesus. If I walk away from golf, I can find many fine activities to replace it. If I walk away from Jesus, I have nothing to sustain me.
Those Jesus met on the road to Emmaus came away asking themselves, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” If you are a follower of Jesus, you have felt something akin to this fire. Possessing such certain presence of Christ is worth all we have.
Paul wrote, “I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). That may be obsession, but the reward it offers—Christ himself—compelled Paul. Does it compel me? Will I tell the world about all I would jettison to gain the splendor of a salvation so freely given? It’s time to stamp out my reputation and herald his.
—
Jeff Hopper
October 1, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.