He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV)
We golfers never know exactly what will happen next. We roll a putt perfectly along the green and it hits a grain of sand and moves just enough offline to miss. We put a perfect swing on a wedge into the green and it unexpectedly bounces off its intended line and into the water. Much of what happens, especially to us amateurs, has more to do with chance than our level of skill. We often walk off the course shaking our head about what might have been if only something or other had not happened.
We walk a common road with the rest of humanity—not superior to anyone else except for the fact that we know where we are ultimately going.We Christians never know exactly what will happen next either. We live our lives just like everyone else. We just can’t know the future. So what difference does it make if we believe in God? We have no guarantee of success or failure. We journey along the same path as every human being that has gone on before us. We are born and for a short time we live the best life we can muster and then we die. We all have the same fate or so it seems.
Where we differ from people who have not yet encountered God is in the way our faith allows us to deal with the unexpected and the unknown. Knowing God brings with it a sense of peace about our future. God has revealed enough of his character for us to understand that He is good and eternal and unchanging. He becomes the bedrock that we can trust no matter what comes next. God has designed every human being with a sense of eternity in their heart. Knowing him in a personal way allows us to acknowledge who and what we actually are. We were created by God and placed on this earth entirely for his purposes. We are created in his image and are like him in some ways. We have a capacity to love, create, reason and choose. He also has these characteristics but many others that we cannot fathom. We know about him only that which he chooses to reveal to us. He promises through his Word that what we see dimly now will be made crystal clear in the future.
So we walk a common road with the rest of humanity—not superior to anyone else except for the fact that we know where we are ultimately going. We know that no obstacle or unexpected happening can keep us from getting to our destination. God loves the whole world and our journey as believers is how he communicates to the rest of the world his love for them. We are blessed to know him and to have his Holy Spirit in us as the redeemed children of God.
Let us not see those we journey alongside the path of life with us as the enemy. Instead let us see them as God’s creation who have not yet come to know him. It is not our job to act like we are perfect—we are sinners saved by grace. We are more authentic when we admit that we are a work in progress to those we seek to reach. We are not called to point out the evil in another person’s life. Most people already realize they haven’t lived a perfect life even if they have tried to be good. Instead we are called to pray for and love them in the same way that God has loved us. We exhibit God’s grace best when we live a life as a forgiven person who knows what we have been saved from.
We humans are all pilgrims with eternity set in our hearts. Those of us who have experienced God’s grace are called to bring as many others with us as we can, as we follow God’s path to our ultimate destiny. We do this in gratitude to our Creator who has found us and saved us for his glory.
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Linda Ballard
December 1, 2016
Copyright 2016 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.