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And Yet...
Prior
to last Sunday’s Master’s Championship, Phil
Mickelson carried the heavy burden of being dubbed
the "greatest golfer to never win a major."
Phil
is and has been a great talent in the world of golf.
In the past 12 years, this husband and father of three
has won 22 PGA tournaments and
yet, his name could not be mentioned without
bringing up the fact that he had never won a major.
Phil has earned over $27 million dollars since turning
pro in 1992, and
yet he could not escape the questions about
never winning a major. Phil is ranked as the sixth
best golfer in the world, and yet when interviewed, the thing people wanted to know about
is his having never won a major.
However,
all that changed on April 11, 2004. Phil finally won
his major in dramatic, nail-biting fashion. Finally,
the questions for him will stop. The feeling of relief
must rival the level of joy and excitement that he is
feeling right now. The stigma of being the "best
golfer to never win a major" has been removed. In
a sense, the 2004 Master’s tournament was not just a
win, but it was freedom for this golfer.
But
now, there’s application to be made from this
storyline! You
see there are a good many people just like Phil
Mickelson who just haven’t yet arrived. It’s not
that they’re not good people, they are. It’s not
that they haven’t proven themselves to be
trustworthy, honorable, and notable, because they are.
The problem is that they just haven’t yet
surrendered their lives to Christ.
There
are people who are trustworthy, and yet, they aren’t
Christians. There are people who have high moral
standards, and
yet, they aren’t Christians. There are
people who are active in fighting for community
values, and
yet they aren’t Christians. There are people
who are compassionate and benevolent toward those who
are less fortunate, and yet, they aren’t Christians!
No
matter how "good" a person is;
no matter how highly they are thought of, if that
person is not a Christian, he hasn’t yet
done enough to remove the stigma of "sinner."
No matter one’s accomplishments in life, if he
hasn’t surrendered his life in obedience to Jesus,
it's NOT ENOUGH! He’ll never escape the nagging
stigma of being "a good person, and
yet,
STILL A SINNER."
Jesus
died on the cross so that you and I don’t have to
suffer the stigma AND the penalty of SIN (Romans
6:23). To
be set free from sin, one must: place his/her trust
in God (Hebrews 11:6), repent
of sin (2 Corinthians 7:9-10), confess
Jesus as Lord of your life (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized
(immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sin
(Acts 2:38). Then
as one continues to walk in the light of
God’s Word, the blood of Jesus continues
to cleanse him/her of sin (1 John 1:7). “If the Son
makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John
8:36).
Apparently,
as the world sees it, there’s a WORLD of difference
between a good golfer and a golfer who has won a
major. And as God sees it, there’s an ETERNITY'S
difference between a "good person" and
a Christian!
Won’t
YOU become a Christian
today?
God bless you!
-- Steve
Higginbotham / David A. Sargent
Church of Christ at Creekwood
1901 Schillinger Rd. S.
Mobile, Alabama 36695
Steve is the author of MercEmail,
A Weekly Devotional from the South Green church of
Christ, Glasgow, KY.
See http://www.glasgow-coc.org
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