FORE!!

By Pastor Eric

A few years back there was a pastor, whom we will call pastor Teddy, who decided to call in sick one Sunday morning so that he could sneak off and play a round of golf. The pastor drove about 2 hours out of town to play at a small community golf course where he was sure he wouldn’t see anyone he knew. He arrived at the course to find that he was the only one there. He checked in and headed over to the first tee box. He couldn’t believe that nobody was on the course, “this is going to be a great day” he thought. Just before driving over to the first tee box the pastor stopped and said a small prayer asking God to let him play well, to have a great round. He had no idea what he was in for. 

Pastor Teddy went through his normal stretches, pulled out his driver, and teed up the ball. He took a deep breath and swoosh, he hit the drive of his life, right down the middle of the fairway. His approach shot to the green was perfect as well, and he sunk the putt for his first birdie of the day. Shot after shot he amazed himself with how well he was playing; he was playing the best round of his life. By the time he finished the first nine holes, pastor Teddy–just your everyday golfer, was 6 under par and on track to beat the course record. 

He stood on the 10th tee box, excited and nervous all at once. It was a short par three, only about 145 yards long. He stepped up to the ball, took a deep breath and said, “Lord, I would love to have a hole in one right about now.” With the swing of his club the ball flew high in the air, hit the green, rolled a few feet, and went right into the hole! With a fist pump and a loud yell of excitement, the pastor couldn’t believe his eyes, a hole in one!! When pastor Teddy finished his 18-hole round that Sunday morning, he had broken the course record and sunk a hole in one. 

One of the Lord’s angels, who had been watching everything, asked God, “why would you let pastor Teddy play the best round of his life, even let him have a hole in one when he should have been tending to his flock this morning?” God shook his head with a slight laugh, turned to the angel and said, “Who’s he gonna tell?” 

We pray sometimes for our “secret sins”–those sins that the world might not see or the ones we think we are getting away with. Sometimes these sins are of the heart or even part of our thoughts, sins that others cannot hear, feel, or see. But brothers and sisters, I would submit to you today that there is no such thing as “secret sins.” I can say this with confidence because God hears and sees all things. Although they might not be known to others around us, God is there from the time we think it, act it out, and wish we never had. This truth alone eliminates the idea of secret sins: God knows ALL things!! “For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps” Job 34:21.

How is your discipline of repentance? I’m not talking about your dinner prayer asking God to forgive us of our many sins before we eat….but a time of genuine and transparent prayer. This kind of prayer brings us to the Lord on our knees, asking for forgiveness for those things that nobody else can see. Naming them and  crying out to our Holy God to forgive us of our sinful ways. Acknowledging and accounting for our sins, although not always seen, which violate the intimate relationship that God desires to have with each and every one of us. 

True and genuine repentance brings about freedom, restoration, change, and forgiveness which can only be possible through the amazing grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. “Rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster” Joel 2:13.

Have you been on the golf course lately, thinking you got away with something? God already knows, my friend…come clean, acknowledge your shortcomings before our Holy Father and experience the love, the freedom, and forgiveness that only Jesus can offer you!! 

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” 1 John 1:9.

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