The Ultimate Round: How Jesus Showed Us the Way to Play God’s Course
Imagine life as a vast, challenging golf course, designed by the ultimate Architect: God. This course isn’t about birdies and bogeys, but about relationships, purpose, and eternal joy. The problem? We all started with a serious handicap, a flawed swing, and a scorecard filled with penalties. We were incapable, on our own, of playing the game the way it was meant to be played. Our swings were off and our relationships were broken. Our scorecards were full of infractions and penalties.
The First Player – Jesus
Enter Jesus. He was sent by the Father as the first player on this new course, a demonstration of the ideal golfer, the perfect swing, and the master of the course, the ultimate model to be followed. He didn’t just play the game; He became the standard, the example, the living embodiment of how to navigate this challenging terrain. He lived a life free of penalties, a life of perfect alignment with the Father, a life of love, forgiveness, and unwavering truth. He embodied the potential in golf.
The Course Less Played: A New Life Through Him
Jesus’s coming wasn’t just about showing us the perfect form. It was about opening the door for us to play this “Course Less Played,” to live a new life, a life connected to the Father through Him. He cleared the way. He became our forerunner, as Hebrews 6:20 describes, one “who comes in advance to a place where the rest are to follow,” a “scout to prepare a path, a course for fellow future players to play on.” He’s the prodromos, the one who leads the way, preparing a path for others to follow, a pioneer, the captain of our soul.
He’s the first of many brothers (Romans 8:29), the “firstborn,” the head of all creation, the beginning of a new kind of player, a model for all the players who would come after him, eternally connected to the Father through Him.
The Erased Scorecard: A Gift of Grace
Here’s where the ultimate game-changer comes in. Because we had compiled a “long and sorry record/scorecard as sinners,” proving our utter inability to play the glorious life God intended, He stepped in with a radical solution. He put us in “right standing” with Himself – a pure gift! He rescued us from the mess we were in, restoring us to where He always wanted us to be.
How? By means of Jesus. Jesus lived a perfect life we could never live, playing a perfect round we could never play. And then, He took the ultimate penalty: He died on the cross for us, “nailing our certificate of death on the cross.”
Colossians 2:14 explains that one day, everyone will stand before God and give an account of their life. A perfect life is needed to gain entrance into heaven. This passage goes on to say that the handwriting of ordinances that were against us was blotted out and taken away, being nailed to the cross through His death for us. He took our imperfect scorecards, erased them, and nailed them to the cross!
He gave us a new life with no scorecards – just forgiveness, unlimited Mulligans/grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). We are saved through faith, not as a result of works, so no one can boast of having earned it. No one can boast of having a perfect scorecard. It’s all a gift – the gift of the exchange of cards. No cards anymore; just God’s love, forgiveness, and the freedom to live the life we were created to live, in dynamic, interactive companionship with Jesus and His Father.
The Exchange: His Perfection for Our Imperfection
Second Corinthians 5:21 says it powerfully: “He made Jesus who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” He, the perfect player, took our flawed scorecards, and in exchange, He gave us His perfect record. First Peter 2:24 states that He placed the sins of the world on Him. The perfect Son of Man carried our guilt, took our scorecard upon Him.
Playing the Course with Jesus: Guided by the Holy Spirit
Now, equipped with this new life, this clean slate, we can play the “Course Less Played” with Jesus beside us, guiding us through the Holy Spirit. This isn’t about striving for perfection to earn God’s favor; it’s about walking with Him, learning from Him, and letting His love and forgiveness shape our every shot.
It’s about choosing to play this course every day, embracing the banner of love and forgiveness that the Father drapes over the whole world. We still might shank a shot or land in a sand trap, but now we have the ultimate caddy, the ultimate coach, and unlimited grace to help us navigate the course and experience the joy of playing the game the way it was meant to be played. It is about our best effort and about the perfect life – a sinless life in order to gain eternal life. We have this because of Ephesians 2:8-9 for by grace we have been saved through faith and it is not of our own doing, it is the gift of God.
And even when we face judgement and the account we give of our life as explained in Second Corinthians 5:10, it is our perfect exchange that gains us the entrance we need to come to the ultimate gift – His perfect son.