Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. (1 Timothy 6:18, TNIV)
Golfers are nice people. When one of them hits a ball wayward, the others in the group help look for it. It’s a way of coming alongside someone who’s usually pretty upset about the shot he’s just hit. Find a playing partner’s golf ball and you’ve done him a great kindness!
I also hear among golfers a running string of compliments: “Good shot!” “Great swing!” “Nice putt!” These people know how to encourage one another, probably because they understand so well just how discouraging the game can be.
You know, in life we all need help along the way. Maybe this is why you see so many modern tour professionals latching on to the assistance they receive from their swing coach, their manager, their mental coach, their caddie. Even the very best individuals in this individual sport need a team to get the job done week in and week out.
At Links Players, it’s possible that we make too much of the individual Links Player’s Mission sometimes. But I reviewed the five points recently with my regional board, and they loved going over them again. We discovered that the Mission is also loaded with team thinking in the midst of an individual commitment.
To begin, we “Love God and others,” which is the Great Commandment. No lonely living there. We must be united with God by love. And we must be united with others as well.
The third aspect of the Mission begins with N: “Network friends together in Christ.” This idea was captured from the passages in Acts where we read of the mutual support of the early believers for one another. They shared “as each had need.”
Then we land on the K: “Kindle compassion for the poor and needy.” In Matthew 25, Jesus taught that the demonstration of our trust in him for salvation will be our treatment of him—and this is found specifically in how we treat the poor, hungry, sick, and imprisoned among us. “What you do unto the least of these brothers of mine,” Jesus said, “you do unto me.”
Our regional board keyed in on that concept. Wouldn’t it be great as Links Players if we would be rich in good deeds and be generous and willing to share all the time, as automatically as we do on the golf course when we help a partner find a lost ball? Wouldn’t it be great if the hurting in spirit knew to come to a Links Player for encouragement when they had been beaten down?
Yes, the poor in pocket and the poor in spirit should always find a way into our eyes and into our hearts.
One of our Links Fellowship leaders shared with me recently about a man who stopped coming to the Links Fellowship for a few months. He would join them for golf and everything seemed OK on the golf course, but he wasn’t attending the times of study and prayer. Then one morning he came to the fellowship. He needed to share with those he found to be “safe” friends, for he was going through tough times. The others came alongside him in love and support. That’s the teamwork we all need, the step from lonely into love.
—
Dereck Wong
August 15, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.