Playing on the wrong fairway

When I was still at school, I used to go and hack around the Police Golf Course with my friends. We would take a dollar each: 50 cents for 9 holes and 50 cents for a Brown Cow afterwards. For the un-initiated, a Brown Cow is a Coke Float – equal parts coke and milk with a dollop of ice cream floating on the top.

I have some interesting memories from those days. This one time, my mom arranged for me to play with the nephew of a lady from her prayer group. The young man in question was visiting from the UK. As we teed up for the first hole, two things happened: 1) I discovered that he was a scratch golfer and 2) it started to rain.

I was pretty nervous.

Adopting a slightly open stance and preparing to pronate my wrists – according to some advice I had read in a little book entitled ‘How to Play Golf’ – I began my down swing. Unfortunately the grip of the club was wet and it flew out of my hands like a helicopter, landing about 20m further than my ball.

Another memory I have is of playing on the wrong fairway. As far as I can recall, this happened the first time I played at Police, and though I drove off the No 3 tee box, I ended up playing on the No 5 fairway.

This reminds me of something Steven Covey said a few years ago: “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”. I wonder how often we end up playing the game of life on the wrong fairway. I do it all the time. Suddenly, my Christian life is all about reading the Bible in a year or preaching like John Piper. Which fairway are you playing on? Has success in business become the most important thing in your life? Perhaps it is the approval of others?

But what is the main thing we need to keep the main thing in 2013?

In the middle of his teaching on spiritual gifts, Paul reminds the Corinthian church that to be motivated by love is the main thing (1 Corinthians 13). Without love, the gifts count for nothing. I would go so far as to say that without love, my life counts for nothing. Remember what Jesus said?

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments. (Matt. 22:37-40).

I don’t know about you, but I want to be productive, I want be something special for God, and I hope to receive an eternal reward for the way I have lived my life. According to Paul, however:

·         Without love, my preaching is as productive as a yapping dog (1 Cor. 13:1).

·         Without love, I am nothing special (v2). In fact, if I want to be something special in the Kingdom of God, I must “be the very last and the servant of all” (Mk. 9:35). And isn’t this what love is all about, in humility valuing others above myself and not looking to my own interests but to the interests of others?

·         Without love, I fail to gain anything of eternal value (v3).

The main thing that we must keep the main thing in 2013 is to be motivated by love. Perhaps it would help to carry out what I call a “love audit”. Choose a time and a place where you won’t be interrupted and then invite the Holy Spirit to work with you as you read through verses 4 – 7 of 1 Corinthians 13. Substitute the word “love” with your own name and ask yourself whether what you are reading is true for you in the areas of family, work and church. Then meditate on 1 John 4:7-21.

Cheers for now - Ian