“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10, NIV)
Lots of things can make us angry on the golf course. Miss a short putt, hit a drive OB when you have a great round going, chunk a wedge when a birdie is right in front of you—these are the troubles that haunt us as golfers.
But it’s just a game.
That can be hard to remember, so it was nice to hear the words of J.B. Holmes after his defeat Sunday at the WGC Cadillac Championship: “It’s part of golf. I had a great week, God still loves me, my family still loves me.”
I’m not the first to say, “Golf does not define you.” I was introduced to this idea in Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia, by my friend David Cook. It’s a firm reminder that we cannot let golf—or any other playful endeavor—take over what it means to live out our lives.
Fighting for perspective is one of the hardest things we must do. There’s a spiritual reason for this and it has to do with how the enemy, Satan, draws us away from Christ. Through discouragement and worry, he wants to pull our eyes in an ungodly direction. He will steal our joy and destroy our hope—if we let him. But there is great news! Jesus came into the world. God’s perfect plan was to overcome Satan by providing eternal life in Jesus, who rose from the dead and overcame eternal death.
The opposite of Satan’s strategy is God’s enduring plan for our lives, and it looks like this: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23). When the Holy Spirit is at work in us, these wonderful results flourish. Love, joy, and peace reign in our hearts. Patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness demonstrate themselves in our relationships. And self-control governs our actions, which otherwise would look only to satisfy the flesh.
In the Lenten season, we prepare for the harsh difference between the darkness of Good Friday and the light of Easter. But if the work of the resurrection has truly been done and we have been made new in the risen Christ, we should always be leaning in the direction of the light. Meditating on the fruit of the Holy Spirit and sharing the Good News of Jesus in this season are great steps down the path of a walk with Christ, rather than a walk with the enemy.
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Dereck Wong
March 10, 2015
Copyright 2015 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.