Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8, NIV)
When I was growing up around the game, I learned to recognize the various types of players who hung around the club. One of those was the great range player, the golfer whose swing was fluid and who sent pure iron after pure iron out into the field of practice. But what made this golfer a range player only was that he couldn’t turn that beautiful, repetitious swing into notable scores when he went to the course.
What the range player reminds us is that the center of the game is not the golfer but the cup. You’ll find all shapes, sizes, ages, and swings on the range at a scratch tournament. But take a guess at what each will shoot on a given day, and you’re sure to miss several times over.
The cup is the great leveler. The question for every golfer is the same: how many does it take you to get the ball in the hole? Which means something else as well—that the center, the standard, puts us all in our place. It keeps us humble.
In our study on the threads of righteousness that run throughout the Bible, we have been led to humility. Presented in humility, our witness is respected. Lived in humility, our lives bless others. Preached in humility, the Gospel exalts its center: Christ our Savior.
In today’s accompanying video, Links Players president Jeffrey Cranford defines humility as “a right perspective on reality.” We move toward humility when we remember that we are the created and God is the Creator. We are most humble when the center of the universe is the center of our universe—when God is God and we are not. Among other things, this enables us to relate to others as those God has loved with the same grace and love he has offered to us.
Humility is demonstrated well by those who do not overrate, overpresent, or oversell themselves. This is accomplished when we first stand reminded that our sin has disqualified us from the beautiful perfection God had planned for humanity. It is then advanced when we see the work of Christ in his death and resurrection with the eyes of our mind and the eyes of our heart. And it is finally secured when we praise God for his Lordship and thank him for his redemption, both privately and in public.
—
Jeff Hopper
October 24, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES
Threads of Righteousness 1
Threads of Righteousness 2
Threads of Righteousness 3
Threads of Righteousness 4
Threads of Righteousness 5
Threads of Righteousness 6: God alone
Threads of Righteousness 7: Only God?
Threads of Righteousness 9: Humble Acts
Threads of Righteousness 10: Mercy Speaks
Threads of Righteousness 11: Acting Justly
Threads of Righteousness 12: Generosity
Threads of Righteousness 13: Faithfulness
Threads of Righteousness 14: Purity
Threads of Righteousness 15: God of Love
Threads of Righteousness 16: God’s Loving Plan
Threads of Righteousness 17: Acting in Love
Threads of Righteousness 18: Spirit of God
Threads of Righteousness 19: Spirit-led Living