After a year of no real communal golf, restrictions are now being lifted, and the ladies club golfing “tournament” season is once again underway––which means the invitationals are back.
Each club can decide what sort of format and scoring it wants to have. The most common is two best balls out of a team of four. However, the first tournament I attended this year, chose a different format––one that reminded me of one of God’s promises, of His grace, and of our responsibility. That format is the Eclectic.
In an eclectic, everyone plays a round of golf on the first day and records her score. The goal on the second day is to improve her score on as many holes as she can. It is rare, extremely rare, that a golfer will improve on every hole, but on the holes that were poorly played the day before, there is hope. A chance to redeem herself, and move closer to a good score.
Such is the Christian life. God doesn’t expect perfection from us the day we turn our life over to Him. Nor does He expect perfection each day. But He does want us to move toward perfection––toward being more Christlike.
Philippians 2:12 tells us to “. . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Our salvation is free and immediate when we accept Christ as our savior, but our struggles with sin and our Christlike qualities are daily work. But not work we have to do on our own.
Paul reminds the Philippians the he is “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
God wants us to reflect Christ. He wants us to move away from sin and to be more righteous, faithful, loving, and godly, and he has sent the Holy Spirit to remind, prod, encourage, and help us in this endeavor.
So let’s not dwell on “poorly played” situations of the day before, but with God’s help, seek to use this day to improve.
Each club can decide what sort of format and scoring it wants to have. The most common is two best balls out of a team of four. However, the first tournament I attended this year, chose a different format––one that reminded me of one of God’s promises, of His grace, and of our responsibility. That format is the Eclectic.
In an eclectic, everyone plays a round of golf on the first day and records her score. The goal on the second day is to improve her score on as many holes as she can. It is rare, extremely rare, that a golfer will improve on every hole, but on the holes that were poorly played the day before, there is hope. A chance to redeem herself, and move closer to a good score.
Such is the Christian life. God doesn’t expect perfection from us the day we turn our life over to Him. Nor does He expect perfection each day. But He does want us to move toward perfection––toward being more Christlike.
Philippians 2:12 tells us to “. . . continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling.” Our salvation is free and immediate when we accept Christ as our savior, but our struggles with sin and our Christlike qualities are daily work. But not work we have to do on our own.
Paul reminds the Philippians the he is “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
God wants us to reflect Christ. He wants us to move away from sin and to be more righteous, faithful, loving, and godly, and he has sent the Holy Spirit to remind, prod, encourage, and help us in this endeavor.
So let’s not dwell on “poorly played” situations of the day before, but with God’s help, seek to use this day to improve.
RSS Feed