The Green Jacket

     Two personal friends came very close to winning one of golf’s premier tournaments, the 2009 Masters championship.  Instead, Kenny Perry and Chad Campbell reached a three-man playoff that was won by Angel Cabrera.  Instead of Perry becoming the oldest winner in history, Cabrera became the first golfer from Argentina to wear the coveted green jacket, given to the winner of the tournament.
     Perry’s attitude in defeat put things in proper perspective: “If this is the worst thing that happens to me, I can live with it.”  The Associated Press reported, “He was as gracious as ever.”  Perry said, “I may never get this opportunity again, but I had a lot of fun being in there.  I had the tournament to win.  I lost the tournament.  But Angel hung in there; I was proud of him.”
     Of infinitely more importance than this special GREEN JACKET is a WHITE ROBE pictured in the final book of the Bible.  This imagery reflects wonderful spiritual and eternal blessings.   In Revelation 7:13-14, John wrote: "These in white robes--who are they, and where did they come from? … These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”
     John, guided by the Holy Spirit, also recorded Jesus’ description of some faithful Christians in Sardis: “You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels” (Revelation 3:4-5).
     In these beautiful, symbolic passages, John describes a splendid reality: because God so loved the world He gave His only begotten Son to die for our sins so that we might wear “white robes,” representing the cleansing power of the blood of Jesus (John 3:16).
     Very few of us will ever wear the “GREEN JACKET,”  but EACH of us has a far greater opportunity!  By accepting God’s offer of grace on His terms, we can wear a “WHITE ROBE” of glory! 
     We are clothed with that “WHITE ROBE” when we: believe in Jesus (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) in His name for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38).
     Have YOU, in trusting, obedient faith, chosen to receive the Gift offered by Divine grace? 
     Do so while opportunity is yours and continue, in faithfulness, to overcome and to serve God.
     Won’t YOU?

-- Allen Dixon is the uncle of David A. Sargent and member of the Germantown (TN) church of Christ; 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