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NOVEMBER 30, 2011
SHOOTING OURSELVES IN THE FOOT
You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere
humans? (1 Corinthians 3:3, NIV)
I don’t know that there is a golfing equivalent of shooting oneself in the foot, as the saying goes. I’ve
been hit with a club, hit with a ball, hit with a flying divot. But I don’t think I’ve ever done any of these things to myself. Not that it can’t be done. I’ve seen some pretty
crazy stuff on the range and on the course.
When it comes to life, I fall right in line with the crazies. I’ve made plenty of foolish decisions
that were especially foolish because they made me look like the fool!
Sadly, gatherings of believers do the same. They get caught up in lesser pursuits than Jesus, or louder proclamations
than Jesus, or lewder attentions than Jesus, and they find themselves completely ineffectual in the work of God’s kingdom. Let’s consider these one by one.
Lesser pursuits. You have likely heard the stranger-than-true stories of churches that have
split over the color of the carpet or the wearing of choir robes. We may laugh about tussles like these, but so do those outside the church, and they steer widely around our petty arguments. As Paul saw
the Corinthians, the view of us by many outsiders is that we are no more mature than a gaggle of gossiping junior high schoolers. How can we show the needy world Jesus when our little church world is
hung up on far lesser matters? Why would anyone want to bother with what’s bothering us?
Louder proclamations. Too many good Bible studies crumble when they become bastions of
political pronouncement or fringe doctrinal declarations. Do you know what people whose souls are looking for Jesus really want? Jesus! When we strongly suggest that our hope is built on a particular
candidate or our faith will be strengthened if we eat a “first century diet,” we show that our own focus is not where it is best placed. Why would anyone want to get caught up in causes that
are not essential?
Lewder attentions. Infamously, the broad base of belief in Jesus has been undermined on
numerous occasions by those who have set Jesus aside to go after sin. Don’t think this is new. Temple prostitutes were a key attribute of many ancient religions. Sex still attracts, as does the
draw to a quick and easy financial payoff or the applause of people who are drawn to notoriety. Why would anyone in the world be drawn to what the world already offers them? We are supposed to be living
for something far different, far greater.
As we noted yesterday, God desires to grow the number of people who give their lives to Jesus, who will “remain
true to the Lord with a firm resolve of the heart” (Acts 11:23, HCSB). That number may well be grown by God’s power in spite of all our fallings and failings. But what God much prefers to do
is to grow it according to the faith of those who are already in Christ, already firm in their resolve of the heart. That’s why we’ve got to quit shooting our testimony in the foot and live
and preach Jesus.
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Jeff Hopper
November 30, 2011
Copyright © 2011 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
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