Never mastered...

One of the reasons I love golf so much is simply because golf is a game that you can never master. There is always room for improvement. Even though I have a single digit handicap, I could never play on the PGA tour and I am not even the best golfer at the Fernley Golf Club. I am not even in the top 10! Golf really never lets you have an ego. I like that it takes work every time your out on the course.

Golf is a lot like the body of Christ, the church. I have never met anyone who has mastered the Christian life. I have met some who thought they had, but none has I am sure. We all strive to rid our life of bitterness, lack of forgiveness, hatred, dishonesty, greed, lust, and many other struggles. We try hard, but we never fully master them. We also try to think, act, and live "spiritually" (whatever that might mean). We try, but we never master it.

I don't have a problem with the fact that we never master the Christ-following life. But I got to be honest, I do have a problem with us allowing the things we struggle with to master us. I am always amazed to see people who have been following Christ for years to allow anger or bitterness or lack of forgiveness to be their master. I have seen good, Christ-following people ruin their own testimony by their inability to forgive the people of their past. If their is one thing that we can be thankful for and should try to emulate, it is the forgiveness we have received. Our forgiveness of others should be quick and complete, like that of Christ's.

I have seen people who understand scripture and can teach others, who love their families and love the church, but still struggle with faithful and generous giving. We have learned to rationalize it, but I believe that we can be selfish when it comes to the giving of our finances. Picture this: If Jesus were physically at your church services on Sunday and He passed the offering plate down each aisle, or stood beside the box in the back, would your standard of giving change?

No we will never master this Christ-following life. But what we must pursue with all our strength is that those things we struggle with in the flesh, let's not let them master us.

Matthew 6:24"You can't worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you'll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can't worship God and Money both.

Take care,

Rod