My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:19-20, NIV)
Lee Ann Walker’s caddie stood behind her and lined up her putt. Again and again and again. And every time, it was a penalty.
Here’s the awful story: Walker was competing in the Senior LPGA Championship last week in French Lick, Indiana. Anyone who has played the Pete Dye Course there will tell you how wretchedly hard the whole thing is. Narrow fairways with great penalties for missing every one. So you don’t need to make things harder than they are.
But like many of the players in the field, Walker doesn’t compete often anymore, and somehow she and her caddie missed the 2019 memo that you can no longer use another set of eyes to help you set your putter square on your putts. The updated Rules of Golf put that responsibility solely on the player. But there was Walker’s caddie, lining her up, all through Monday’s opening round and deep into Tuesday’s second round.
Until finally someone said something.
Walker did what was right, and she did it right then. She called a rules official, who told her to desist, which she did. Then after the round, Walker went through both days’ rounds with the scorers and every penalty was added to her score. In that painful meeting, 85-74 became 127-90. Who needs a Halloween nightmare?
If we are indeed brothers and sisters in the faith make a grievous error when we do not speak up against visible sins in one another’s lives.But here is something that may be striking you as it struck me: Why did it take so long for someone to say something? Walker was repeatedly breaking a rule in a way that would kill her score, and everyone around her politely avoided being a butt-inski.
All this silence is bad enough when it comes to golf, but how much worse it is when we hold back in saying the words that would save a friend! If we are indeed brothers and sisters in the faith—keepers of one another to the spite of Cain—we make a grievous error when we do not speak up against visible sins in one another’s lives. We do not do this as gossips or moral superiors. We do it in love. We do not do it to expose one another’s sins but to cover them with the forgiveness, grace, and correction of God. We do it to save a loved one from death.
The job is not an easy one, like when a doctor must tell a patient of a disease within. But that doctor offers hope all at the same time. “There is something we can do here. Let’s move to get it done.” And so too we come with the hope of Christ, the one who brings the saving hand. May we never hesitate or back away from this vital role we play on behalf of one another.
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Jeff Hopper
October 21, 2019
Copyright 2019 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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