I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness. (Isaiah 61:10, NIV)
Are you with me? That is, are you one of those golfers who from time to time lose all perspective on the golf course?
You don’t even have to have a temper. You might just fall into whining—that’s more my style. And with every little complaint I find myself sliding into the temporal. I give up what I know to be true overall for what I see to be true right in front of me: My swing stinks. Or I get all the bad breaks. Or I’ll probably never make a putt again.
We are exceptional at forgetting all that we have learned about God:
– that “he so loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son”- that his Son Jesus “endured the cross, scorning its shame”
– that when we confess our sins “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
– that he has gone to prepare a place for us and that he “will come back to take [us] to be with [him].”
Is that so hard to remember?
Consider today’s bit of Isaiah 61. I can tell you unequivocally that when I am upset over another in a long line of sloppy bogeys and doubles, I am not for a moment remembering that the great God of all creation and existence has “clothed me in garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” And that is just plain sad, because I can imagine no more beautiful stamp of God’s love personally directed at me.
Maybe what I need, what we all need, is a tangible way of reminding ourselves day by day that our most comfortable place—home, office, course, or club—is simply not our home. Get creative, and institute such a reminder today!
—
Jeff Hopper
December 7, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.