To the angel of the church in Thyatira, write, "These things says the Son of God, the One whose eyes are like flaming fire and whose feet are like polished brass....And I will give [the overcomer] the morning star." Rev. 2:18-28.
I started playing golf about 12 years ago. It is a very challenging game. You would think that it shouldn't be too hard to hit a ball lying stationary on the ground. And I almost always hit it. But how you hit it is another matter. One time you may shank the ball off to the right or the left, while another time you fail to hit it square and the ball doesn't go as far as you planned. Other times it arcs to the right (slice) or to the left (hook).
When I took up golf, my biggest problem was the slice, in which the ball starts out in the direction I want it to go, but then begins to arc or curve to the right. A small slice of 10 yards or so is not a problem--you can control that. But when the slice gets really big--30, 40, or 50 yards to the right--your results will not be very successful.
A friend of mine, Jim Park, had a slice even worse than mine, so he decided to go to the "swing doctor," a golf teacher who teaches people for a living (they're often called "golf pros"). In the midst of his first lesson the "pro" told him that the reason he was hitting the ball to the right was that he was not "following through." In other words, the ball would go not where Jim intended but rather where his body was facing after he swung the club.
Park immediately questioned the pro's logic. What difference would it make where the swing ended up if he had already hit the ball? His teacher assured him again that he was slicing the ball because he was not following through on the swing and that his body was facing to the right of the target after he had hit the ball. When everything is going wrong, you become willing to try almost anything! So Park began to follow through more with his swing. The difference it made absolutely amazed him. He now hit the ball straighter and farther than ever before.
The church in Thyatira received a head-to-toe vision of Jesus. Their success depended on maintaining that vision of Jesus. Like them, our success in any aspect of the spiritual life results from "following through"--from making sure that all of our efforts focus on Jesus. When we take our eyes off Him and concentrate on the problem or the mission, our "swing" (strategy, organization, talent, etc.) may seem perfect, but our results will wander far from the goal. Everything we do in the spiritual life must happen in relation to Jesus. Or to use the language of Hebrews 12:2 (the golfer's translation): We need "to fix our eyes on Jesus, the beginning and follow-through of our faith."
Lord, my life is filled with distractions, many of them very good things. Help me to "follow through" by keeping my eyes and whole body directed toward You in all I do today.
I started playing golf about 12 years ago. It is a very challenging game. You would think that it shouldn't be too hard to hit a ball lying stationary on the ground. And I almost always hit it. But how you hit it is another matter. One time you may shank the ball off to the right or the left, while another time you fail to hit it square and the ball doesn't go as far as you planned. Other times it arcs to the right (slice) or to the left (hook).
When I took up golf, my biggest problem was the slice, in which the ball starts out in the direction I want it to go, but then begins to arc or curve to the right. A small slice of 10 yards or so is not a problem--you can control that. But when the slice gets really big--30, 40, or 50 yards to the right--your results will not be very successful.
A friend of mine, Jim Park, had a slice even worse than mine, so he decided to go to the "swing doctor," a golf teacher who teaches people for a living (they're often called "golf pros"). In the midst of his first lesson the "pro" told him that the reason he was hitting the ball to the right was that he was not "following through." In other words, the ball would go not where Jim intended but rather where his body was facing after he swung the club.
Park immediately questioned the pro's logic. What difference would it make where the swing ended up if he had already hit the ball? His teacher assured him again that he was slicing the ball because he was not following through on the swing and that his body was facing to the right of the target after he had hit the ball. When everything is going wrong, you become willing to try almost anything! So Park began to follow through more with his swing. The difference it made absolutely amazed him. He now hit the ball straighter and farther than ever before.
The church in Thyatira received a head-to-toe vision of Jesus. Their success depended on maintaining that vision of Jesus. Like them, our success in any aspect of the spiritual life results from "following through"--from making sure that all of our efforts focus on Jesus. When we take our eyes off Him and concentrate on the problem or the mission, our "swing" (strategy, organization, talent, etc.) may seem perfect, but our results will wander far from the goal. Everything we do in the spiritual life must happen in relation to Jesus. Or to use the language of Hebrews 12:2 (the golfer's translation): We need "to fix our eyes on Jesus, the beginning and follow-through of our faith."
Lord, my life is filled with distractions, many of them very good things. Help me to "follow through" by keeping my eyes and whole body directed toward You in all I do today.
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