Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. (Acts 3:8, NIV)
If you play golf avidly, it is likely that you have been able through the years to share the game with friends. Golf is such an excellent way to spend time together that it is an added bonus when someone whose friendship you already enjoy from another walk of life takes up the game with you.
There’s a fun term we use when a friend eagerly starts playing golf, and it makes us smile to say it: “She’s got the bug!” In fact, when a friend becomes newly energized about the game like this, it freshly energizes us too. We work a little harder at our chipping and putting, watch a little more golf on TV, take an extra trip down to the golf store.
Sometimes as we “cruise” through the Christian life, we lose track of the wonder of it all. Grace is amazing only in a song.
But then a friend we have known for a long time calls us one evening and says, “You’ll never guess what I did this afternoon. I gave my life to Jesus!” Maybe we saw this coming, maybe we did not, but our reaction is the same: “Yes! Hallelujah!”
In the weeks and months ahead, changes come over our friend’s heart and mind. The things that were attractive to him before, that filled his conversation and his commitments, are being replaced with a new life in Christ. There is a born again purpose for our friend. No longer, author Paul Tripp would say, is this friend living in a shrink-wrapped kingdom of one; he sees the broad landscape of the kingdom of God and he pursues it with a passion.
Now a second response comes over us. Paul wrote of it this way: “I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” (1 Corinthians 9:27). It’s a stay-in-the-game mentality, a complacency killer—and oh, it is so good for us!
If you are finding your walk with Jesus to be dry these days, you may be thinking that this is the worst time to tell others about Jesus. You may find it very hard to intercede on their behalf, begging God for their salvation. But the wonder is this: when those friends and acquaintances begin to turn their eyes to Jesus and make him their king, the joy will not be theirs alone. The joy will be yours too. And you know what we know about the joy of the Lord: it is our strength.
—
Jeff Hopper
April 17, 2012
Copyright © 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday and is archived by passage and topic at www.linksplayers.com.