Devotion for the Week of July 9, 2007

I was talking with some friends about golf the other day. I told them I love to play golf. I go out and hit the ball 70 - 80 times, go into the clubhouse and have a sandwich and a cold drink, and then if I feel up to it I go out and play the back nine.

With that, one of the other guys told me this story. He was out playing golf in the middle of the week with his brother, just the two of them. On the 10th hole they both hit their long tee shots deep into the rough near a elderly ladies house. The lady was out working in her garden and watched them look for their golf balls for quite some time in the high grass and around the pine trees. Since there was no one waiting to tee off, they took more time than usual to search. This was not the first time either one of the had to spend time searching in the rough and their tempers were starting to flare.

The lady watched the pair and as they neared her house she said to them, “I don't want to bother you men," she said, "but will it be cheating if I tell you where the golf balls are?"

As we look around us, we see people searching for lost values, for real meaning in life, and for hope. We should not, no, we must not keep silent. Fulfilling the Great Commission means sharing Jesus Christ with those around us. It means speaking up and guiding them so they can find the forgiveness and salvation Christ freely offers.

There are too many people who have found Jesus and have good theology, but their outreach is almost nil. They are sound Christians, but they are also sound asleep. For some Christians, it is far too easy to be satisfied with themselves and those close to them being saved and then retreat from the world.

However, on the Day of Pentecost, the birthday of the CHURCH, we were shown that our primary mission is to reach out to the world. T he unity that those early Christians experienced and the prayers that they offered were only to help them better fulfill the task that Christ had given them to make disciples of all people. They existed not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of a lost world.


For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)