Make the Hole Your Goal

Posted: 12 Aug 2011 12:00 AM PDT

By Jon Walker

[U]ntil we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13 NIV)

A hundred years ago, when I played golf, I thought I was doing well just to get the ball somewhere on the putting green.

The truth be told, my main goal was to reach the green without majorly embarrassing myself, so I was satisfied even when my ball made it somewhere near the fringes.

One day a local golf pro told me the key difference between an average golfer and one who is excellent is this: The truly great players shoot for the hole, not somewhere near the hole or somewhere on the green. They aim directly for the hole.

He told me, “You should make the hole your goal.” My intelligent, thoughtful response was, “Yeah, right! That’ll be the day.”

I didn’t think I’d ever be able to hit the hole, so I wouldn’t even try. The reason many of us are stuck, unable to move deeper into intimacy with God is because we don’t think it’s truly possible, at least for us. And so we don’t even try.

But it is possible to mature until we attain “the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13 NIV). We need to practice at it, and that’s called discipleship. But the good news is this: Jesus lives inside us and is working to bring our swing into alignment with his own. May it be so. Amen.