Posted by: Mike Willoughby | September 28, 2010

My Friend, Mulligan

Those of you who are golfers are no doubt acquainted with my friend, Mulligan.  A Mulligan helps you out when you have seriously missed the mark and landed your golf ball way off in the rough.  A Mulligan brings your golf ball back into play and gives you another shot without counting that stroke against you.  You can’t claim a Mulligan for yourself.  You have to receive a Mulligan from your friends.  I don’t golf anymore, but when I did, Mulligan and I were really good friends!

Mulligan is still my good friend in life.  Hardly a day goes by that I don’t seriously miss the mark and end up in the rough.  My objective is to stay straight and true down the fairway of life, but inevitably I hook or shank the shot and end up in trouble.  It’s from that vantage point, way off the fairway up to my neck in weeds that I simply plead for a Mulligan.  Please get me back on the fairway!

Missing the mark in life is known as sin and we all suffer from this flaw that gets us into trouble in life.  The underlying meaning of the word “sin” is quite simply to miss the mark.  I shot for the flag and ended up in a bush.  In life, I shoot for perfection in attitude and action and continually end up with misbehavior and a bad mood.  Fortunately I have a friend in Jesus who is faithful to give me a Mulligan as long as I am trying to stay on the course.  He’s such a good friend, he even comes and grabs me by the hand and leads me back onto the fairway.  He does all the work to reposition me and then he doesn’t count that stroke against me!  At the end of the course, I have a perfect score of 18!

Read what the apostle John says Jesus does for us!

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. 

I John 1:7-10

Stay on the course and ask for a Mulligan when you are in trouble.  Your friend will take it from there.  It’s called grace!  Trust him!

Until next week,

Meet me at the intersection!

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Winding Roads Story-Telling Still Spitting into the Wind

Responses

  1. What a great analagy. I always wondered what a mulligan was. We can`t be reminded to many times that God`s forgiveness has no limit. Thanks for the reminder wrapped in such a clever package.


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