Philippians 3:14 - I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Take a golf course! You see there are nine or eighteen holes, sometimes more. But let's study just one hole. Each has several components. There is the tee box where you start. There is the fairway which is always a good place for you to end up after teeing off. There are roughs on either side of the fairway where, depending upon the length of the cut of grass, can either be an okay place or a bad lie! And there's a different terrain if you golf in Arizona!! Oh, the desert and cactus...and critters...beware.
There can be a multitude of trees or wooded areas lining the course. Sometimes streams or ponds or water features add interest and a challenge. If it's a golf community, you might encounter walls and backyards, even houses if you have a really poor a shot! Hills and valleys might crop up. And of course there are the dreaded bunkers--sand traps along the way to mess with one's mind.
At last there is the green. This is where the final target is located. It is normally a very well groomed, short cropped grass area. This doesn't always mean hitting the ball here is easy. There might be undulating hills or a slope; it might be elevated causing a ball to nicely make a shot hit the green only to roll off...even more than once. Somewhere on that green is a little hole for the ball to go in to.
I know all about most of these particular areas...more often than some.
I can remember as a child wondering what the great attraction was for my father who was an avid golf tournament watcher on Sunday afternoons. These guys would hit this little white ball repeatedly until it went into that little hole....and the crowd cheered.
Our relationship with Christ can be likened to a hole in golf and our life (us) is that little white ball. Let me explain!
A golfer always starts at the tee box. The first ball of the hole is driven from there. This tee box is like being first introduced to and first "teed off" in Christ. It was our starting point. The direction we go is the key issue. Which way and how far? There must be patience and endurance to get to that final goal.
Our final goal, where that little ball that is our life should up is that little hole, the target. There is a pin with a flag attached in that little hole, that we might spot the hole better and take aim. Jesus is like that pin. We keep our focus on Him to achieve the goal. All throughout our lives in Christ we are tempted by things that can take away our focus, not that the areas off the fairway are what I would call tempting. If we start in the fairway, our eyes focused on the pin, it can be considered the narrow path that we are to stay on as we walk with the Lord! He is our Way. It is the best place to spend our time but we can occasionally we veer off that path.
If we veer we are out of God's will. He tells us to walk neither to the left or right…where the roughs are, where the sand traps might be lurking, where the trees get in our way, or the bushes, streams and ponds suck up our balls, sometimes being lost forever unless we have the right tools (Holy Spirit and God's Word) to get it back into play. One bad shot and we end up having to refocus at least to get us back on the fairway to make our way more smoothly to the green.
Like I said, our life is like that ball from teeing off to getting into the little hole. There are twists and turns, there are little foxes that, if we aren't aware of them, creep in and maneuver us into less desirable situations. There are snares of the enemy, the sand traps of life, that can come against us. We need the wisdom and power (of God) to get us out of these places.
So, we make it to the green, the final place in Christ. This won't truly come in our earthly lives until we have finally run the race, or finished the hole, come to the end. No one ever achieves perfection or hitting the mark in the flesh. We try to live our lives the best we humanly can, adhering to the truth of God's Word, repenting of our mistakes, obeying the commandments and being in God's will. We will fail sometimes…and get into streams, lakes, roughs, sand. But somehow we manage to get out, whether we think carefully the best way to get ourselves out of these precarious situations and refocusing on the target, or we pick ourselves up, taking a penalty stroke, and put ourselves in a place where we are in play again, also being focused on Jesus, our Mark, our Target.
If we are in Christ, we get to the hole eventually, by God's grace given to those who call on the name of the Lord to be saved. We achieve some sort of score on the hole. The fact that we made it there is what is important. Remember that cheering crowd I mentioned? There is rejoicing in heaven for us too. Some might get there with a better score than others…depends on where you are throughout life, those situations, those choices you make, those upsets, those traps. Although all the shots to get us there may not have been perfect, we got there just the same. We hear well done, good and faithful servant. Our patience and perseverance paid off. And, oh, how grateful we are!
Revelation 3:21, 21:7 - To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
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