If I had to choose between my wife and my putter... well, I’d miss her.
Past, present and future
He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favour granted us in answer to the prayers of many. 2 Corinthians 1:10-11Salvation has a past, present and future aspect to it. Paul writes that God in Jesus has delivered him. If we are Christians, if we have believed in Jesus and accepted his offer of salvation, we have been saved. But it does not end there. Paul writes that Jesus will deliver us and that he will continue to deliver us. We have been saved in the sense that our sins have been forgiven and we are right with God – once for all. But it is also a process and we are being saved and made more like Jesus each day. There is also a sense that will not be fully saved until we pass through death into all that God has prepared for us.
Being saved is literally a life-changing experience. We can approach life – including sports competition – with the assurance that we have been saved and are being saved and whatever the outcome of our competition nothing can change that assurance of our salvation. And as Paul reminded the Ephesians “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9. That knowledge sets us free from having to prove ourselves and from trying to be good enough.
Take a moment to thank God for saving you, to ponder that amazing fact that the process is continuing and to thank God in anticipation of what he has prepared for you to enjoy forever.