Knowledge puffs up, while love builds up. (1 Corinthians 8:1, NIV)
The reformed theologian R.C. Sproul was once asked about a round of golf he played with the legendary heavy metal rocker Alice Cooper. In the telling the story, Sproul referred to his playing companion as “Vince,” which is Cooper’s given name, but which may also have been a way to set up Sproul’s joke. As Sproul told the story, Cooper left his first putt of the day short, flinging the door wide open for Sproul to say, “Nice putt, Alice.”
To keep in mind how much we have yet to learn is a good way to avoid getting cut by our own sword.Perhaps little digs like this, along with Yogi Berra’s immortal line, “Ninety percent of putts that are short don’t go in,” cause many golfers, even some on the professional tours, to make sure they never leave a putt short. And that, we might say, is a key to putting success—until you keep facing three-footers back to the hole.
We could add, then, that aggressive putting speed, like the accumulation of knowledge, is a double-edged sword. For the most part, it is a helpful practice. But you need to know how to manage it.
The opening line of the Links Player’s personal mission comes from the Great Commandment. We are to love God. And how are we to do this? With all our heart, soul, and mind. We can never be afraid to use our brains.
In Deuteronomy, Moses told the people, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). While the Lord does not give us all knowledge, he does gives us the knowledge we need, and it is something we can hold on to and live by all our lives, as well as pass it on to our children.
More than this, we have a promise of one day knowing far more. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). The then to which he referred is in eternity with Christ.
So what is the other side of the sword? Well, Paul also warned his readers that “knowledge puffs up.” Just as we learned with goodness in last week’s study of the eight great traits in 2 Peter 1, we must be humble with what we are given. To know more is a worthy endeavor, but to keep in mind how much we have yet to learn is a good way to avoid getting cut by our own sword.
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Jeff Hopper
February 2, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THE EIGHT GREAT TRAITS SERIES
Eight Great Traits 1: Faith
Eight Great Traits 2: Goodness
Eight Great Traits 4: Self-control
Eight Great Traits 5: Perseverance
Eight Great Traits 6: Godliness
Eight Great Traits 7: Kindness
Eight Great Traits 8: Love