The MulliganSample

The Most Important Relationship

Imagine being invited to an unfamiliar golf course and overhearing a conversation about the course’s origins in the clubhouse. “The owner actually designed this course for his son,” one golfer says. “He tailored it to his son’s skills, lined the fairways with his son’s favorite trees, and invited only his son’s friends to play.” You may wonder how you got an invitation to this exclusive place; did the person who invited you know that owner’s son? In any case, you immediately feel privileged to be there. You also want to get to know this special golfer whose father gave such an extravagant gift.

That’s the situation you find yourself in as a player on the course less played. The Creator of the universe designed this course for his Son, and only the Son’s friends get to play it. In fact, the Son insists on playing it with his friends, as it was created for his pleasure and he doesn’t like to play by himself. And since he knows every dip and swell of the terrain, the carry distance to every green from every spot on the course, every hazard to avoid, and every trick for getting out of them when you happen to hit them anyway, the bend of the grass and swirl of the breeze at any time of day—in other words, there isn’t a detail about this course he doesn’t know—you can’t imagine a better partner. It would be a joy to play a round with this remarkable man.

Commit to approaching your life as you would approach a course like that. If you don’t yet know the Son, all it takes is a prayer asking to receive him into your life. Then embark on that journey. There is no better course than the one less played.

1. When we exchange our scorecard for the scorecard of Jesus—in other words, when we receive the Ultimate Mulligan—it’s not just a transaction. We enter into a relationship with him. In what ways is that relationship like getting an inside view of life’s “course”?
2. Today’s verse says that eternal life is knowing Jesus—that he is not just the way to eternal life, but that this life consists of knowing and relating to him. Does that change your understanding of what believing in Jesus and going to heaven is all about? If so, how?
3. Billy Graham once said, “Incredible as it may seem, God wants our companionship. He wants to have us close to him. He wants to be a father to us, to shield us, to protect us, to counsel us, and to guide us in our way through life.”

It is much easier for most people to believe they need God as a friend than to believe God wants us as friends. Why do you think that is? What do you think friendship with God looks like?