NICE Game

There is nothing more exciting than anticipation. At 9:30 I am booked to tee off on the first hole on my golf course. The sun is shining and fresh air fills my lungs. Together with my friend I will spend approximately the next five hours playing golf, which has been my hobby for the last three years.

You probably also know this situation. How you played the last round of golf determines how you are looking forward to the next round. You are standing at the first tee-off and wish each other a “Nice Game“.

Playing golf on a course where trolleys are not allowed is especially difficult, as the players have to carry their golf clubs themselves and the golf bag is very heavy. Just imagine that there is a person, a golf expert, watching you and offering to caddy for you for the day. If you accept the offer, your caddy will take the golf bag from your shoulders and carry it for you for the day. What a great relief this would be.

Furthermore, because your caddy is a golf expert, he contributes to your successful matchplay by choosing the right club and by estimating the distance from the fairway to the green. He also helps you to decide which angle the ball must take and which direction to strike it. What a good partner such a caddy would be! Wouldn’t we like to have him around all the time, and not only when playing golf?

What counts on the golf course also counts in life. There is an expert for life, who wants to be our caddy: Jesus Christ. He is willing to take away our bag with burdens and carry it for us. We all carry such a bag – called sin. Sin means to miss the target and be separated from God. Without Jesus we play the life course in the wrong order and we even miss the goal in life.

The person who builds a golf course also draws a course map so that the players can find their way. God, who designed our life course, also provides orientation and help so that we can return from our wrong ways and continue walking on the right way which leads to eternal life in the presence of God.

The Bible says: “You all went astray like sheep, but now you returned to the shepherd and guard of your souls“ (1Peter 2:25). Why is it so important to commit our lives to Jesus Christ? Because he is the way to eternal life in the presence of God, he can show us the way. Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody will ever come to the father than through me“ (John 14:6).

Jesus Christ can take your sin away, because he died for it. He wants to guide you through every situation in life: through easy times - like wide fairways, but also through difficult periods – like greens surrounded by obstacles of bunkers and water.

We only need to ask Jesus to do exactly that. You can do that by praying to him and asking him to forgive your sin and to come into your life. Commit your life to Jesus (see also John 1:12). When you do that, your life will change. Together with your caddy Jesus Christ you will go through life. The prayer can be as follows – and I offer you to make it your own:

“Lord Jesus, thank you that you love me and that you died for me on the cross of Calvary. I admit that I am a sinner and, therefore, am guilty in your eyes. I confess my sins and ask you to forgive me. I now ask you to come into my life and I commit it to you. You shall be the Lord in my life. The Bible says that whoever asks will become a child of God. I believe that and want to belong to you for my entire life. Thank you that you have forgiven my sins and that I have become a child of God. Amen!“

Should you have prayed as suggested, you will still go through easy and difficult times in life. But you now have Jesus Christ on your side to support, advise and guide you.

Patrick H. Möller

Title of the original edition: Schönes Spiel
Translation from German into English: Stefan Möller

Publisher: Bruderhand-Medien, Am Hofe 2, 29342 Wienhausen, Germany, Telefon: +49 (0)5149 9891-0, Fax: -19, Homepage: www.bruderhand.de

E-Book-Date: 19.06.2018. Best.-Nr. 37-3 | Englisch/English | 1st edition 2017