Monday, August 31, 2015

THE LIFEBLOOD

   In a golfer's bag of clubs, it is the putter that is swung more times than any other club, and it is the club that accounts for more strokes than any other club. 
   For example, if a golfer uses 2 putts per hole for 18 holes, that is a total of 36 strokes.  If he needs 3 or 4 putts on some of those holes, then he is using more than 40 strokes by the putter alone.  Add 18 drives and he will be up to nearly 60 strokes with only 2 clubs.  If he scores 100 for one game, then half of his strokes are on the greens. 
  To many golfers, however, it is the putter that is treated with the least amount of importance to the whole, or the club that receives the least attention---as if putting is something trivial to do before moving to the next tee.
   How often do golfers say, "I need to practice my putting"?
   Yet, most golfers will never practice putting at all.  They will continually complain about their putting while never attempting to do anything about it.
   Instead, they will spend hours learning how to drive off the tees, they will work on making better fairway shots, and they will practice to be better at pitching and chipping.  But these same people will treat the putter as an unwanted step-child.
  Golf championships are either won or lost on the greens because of putting, and not from the tees or on the fairways.
   If a golfer devotes little attention to improve his putting, he will likewise devote little attention to improving his game with all the other clubs.
   Obviously, most golfers accumulate more strokes on the greens than any other place, and therefore golfers can reduce more strokes on the greens than any other place.
   The putter is the smallest member of a golfer's family of clubs, but it is the putter that is the lifeblood of a golfer's success, or it is the darkness of a golfer's failure to achieve par.
   As Christians, we are the smallest group of people among nations, yet it is Christians that have contributed more to world history, over the past two thousand years, than any group of people in human history.
   Over the past two thousand years, Christians have been responsible for spreading the love of God to all nations because of Christ our Lord.
   Over the past two thousand years, Christians have been responsible for spreading words of good cheer, for being kind and considerate to others, and for helping our neighbors in the time of trouble.
   Yet, over the past two thousand years, Christians have been despised, and hated, and rejected by more people worldwide than any group of people in human history.
   Christians have been enabled to achieve all of these wonderful accomplishments, even though we are the smallest in number, all because Christ is the lifeblood of believers:  for had it not been for the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, human history over the past two thousand years would have been dark and dreary, and people would have never had any hope of ever having a good day.
   Because of Christ, Christians have been enabled to be a light unto the world, and we have done so without using guns and swords.
   God's amazing grace is still amazing, and His grace will remain amazing till the end of days.
      He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:  and we hid our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows:  yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities:  the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53: 3-5)

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