Steve Stricker claims that it’s part of being a PGA tour veteran that you help your fellow golfers. So before the WGC-Cadillac Championship last week in Doral, FL, Stricker spent some time helping Tiger Woods with his putting game. It worked! Woods won the Championship! In second place – just two shots behind – was… yes, Steve Stricker!
Woods had been unhappy with his putting at the Honda Classic two weeks ago. He bumped into Stricker after a practice round at Doral before the tournament and told him about his frustration with his putting game. Stricker worked with Woods for about 45-minutes, helping him get back to the putting stance that had served him well previously.
The 46-year-old Stricker said that it was not the first time he had helped out Woods or other players. "It's kind of the nature of our game. Older players have done it with me and now I'm one of those older players, I guess, and when somebody asks me for help, I tend to give it to them," he said.
Stricker, by finishing 2nd in the tournament, nabbed a purse of $869,852.94. The victorious Woods, however, pocketed $1,441,176.47! Neal Pollard observed: “Once you have finished staggering at such incredible ‘earnings,’ consider the magnanimity of Stricker: He helped his opponent win.” *
If you and I are “professional” at anything, it is sinning! “For ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because of our sin, we’re not just “losing”; we’ve LOST “the game” and are destined for destruction. We don’t just need HELP; we need a Savior!
God loves us so much that He gave His Son to die on the cross as payment for our sins. Even though we were His “opponents” (His enemies, due to our sin, Romans 5:6-10), He came to save us. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Ephesians 1:7).
He paid the price for our sins so that we might share in His victory over sin and death. Because of His victory, we can receive the GIFT of eternal life (Romans 6:23). He provided for us (salvation) what we could not accomplish for ourselves! “Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
We can SHARE in Christ’s victory when. . . we place our faith and trust in Him (Acts 16:30-31), turn from our sins in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Jesus before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to lead to victory those who continue to follow Him faithfully (1 John 1:7).
Because we are lost without Him, Jesus came to save us!
Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and life? Then YOU can share in His victory!
- David A. Sargent, minister for the Church of Christ at Creekwood in Mobile, Alabama, is also the editor of an electronic devotional entitled Living Water." To learn more about this excellent resource contact David via their website: http://www.creekwoodcc.org
* Information gleaned from “Steve Stricker Putting Lesson Helps Tiger Woods To Victory At WGC-Cadillac Championship” by Simon Evans of Reuters in the Huffington Post (www.huffingtonpost.com) and “Helping Your Opponent Win” by Neal Pollard in Daily Bread (3/11/13), an e-mail ministry of the Bear Valley church of Christ in Denver, CO (www.bearvalleycofc.com).
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