Mark 0:00

Let me ask you a question. What is the strongest part of your golf game? Not what you'd like it to be, not what it was 20 years ago, not what people tell you after your third cup of coffee. What is it really? Maybe you're a good putter. Maybe you're accurate off the tee. Maybe you have a short game that somehow rescues rounds that should have fallen apart three holes ago. Most golfers have at least one thing they do pretty well. Hey guys, stick around and let me tell you where I'm going with this. What is the weakest part of your game? It's funny how that answer usually comes faster. Most of us can list our weaknesses immediately. We know exactly why we didn't shoot the score we wanted. We know the missed putts, the chunk chips, the drives that mysteriously developed a passport while traversing multiple time zones. We're experts at identifying what's wrong. I've hit a drive right down the middle of the fairway and spent the next five minutes thinking about the missed putt from three holes earlier. If golf has taught me anything, it's that I can turn one bad shot into a full-blown identity crisis. And I think that's because golfers have a tendency to focus on what's missing rather than what's already there. A few weeks ago, I played with a guy who sank every putt he looked at. It was impressive. Putt after putt, he just kept draining them. Yet every time he missed the fairway off the T-box, he'd shake his head and talk about how bad his t-shots were. Meanwhile, I'm standing there and thinking, man, I would trade problems with you in a heartbeat. The things we do well often become invisible to us. The things we don't do well become all we can see. And the same thing happens in our spiritual life. In Romans 12, Paul talks about spiritual gifts. He explains that God has given different gifts to different people according to his grace. Different gifts, different strengths, different roles. God never intended every believer to be the same. Yet many of us spend a surprising amount of time wishing we had somebody else's gift. We see a gifted teacher and wish we could communicate like that. We see a gifted leader and wish we had their influence. We see someone with incredible faith and wonder why ours doesn't look the same. It's a little like showing up at a golf course wishing you had somebody else's driver, somebody else's putting stroke, somebody else's wedge game, and then somebody else's handicap. At some point, you're no longer playing your game. You're just collecting envy. And one of the things I love about golf is that there isn't only one way to win. Just look at some of golf's legends. Tiger Woods could overwhelm a course with power and shot making. Ben Hogan, years before Tiger, built his reputation on precision and ball striking. Ben Crenshaw seemed capable of making putts from distances where most of us are just hoping to avoid a three-putt. And Sevy Ballesteros could find his ball in places most golfers would need a search party to locate, and then somehow get up and down anyway. Different strengths, same objectives. None of those players became great by trying to copy each other. They became great by developing the gifts that made them unique. The best golfers in the world understand something that many amateurs never learn. You don't have to be great at everything. You simply need to know who you are. The best player in your regular group probably isn't the best at every aspect of the game. He just understands his strengths and plays to them. He knows the shots he can pull off. And more importantly, he knows the shots he can't. That's called wisdom. Spiritually, we're often tempted to pull off the miracle shot. We spend so much time focusing on what we don't have that we neglect what God has already given us. And I wonder how many believers spend their lives staring at the areas where they feel inadequate while overlooking the gifts God has already placed in their hands. Because here's the truth: God didn't accidentally wire you the way He did. The things that come natural to you may not be accidental at all. Maybe you're an encourager. Maybe people trust you. Maybe you have a servant's heart. Maybe you're just generous. Maybe you quietly help people without ever needing recognition. And those gifts matter. In fact, the church doesn't want them, the church needs them. One of the things I've learned over the years is that golfers tend to practice counterproductively. We spend all of our time trying to fix the thing that frustrates us most. Now, weakness matters. We should work on weakness, but if you're taking four shots to get out of the bunker, that's not a personality trait. That's something worth addressing. But here's the difference between improving a weakness and obsessing over it. The same principle applies spiritually. Paul's instructions regarding spiritual gifts is remarkably simple. Use them. Not compare them, not envy them, not complain about them. Use them. God didn't give you your gifts so you could spend your life wishing that they were different. He gave them to you so you could use them for his glory. And here's the encouraging part for you. Faithfulness matters way more than visibility. Jesus didn't say, Well done, good and famous servant. He said, Well done, good and faithful servant. That's a standard every one of us can pursue. And the older I get, the more I appreciate golfers who know exactly who they are. They're not chasing every new swing tip, they're not trying to become someone else. They know their strengths, they know their limitations, and they play accordingly. There's a freedom in that. And there's spiritual freedom in that too. The freedom to thank God for how he made you and then faithfully develop the gifts that he's entrusted to you. So here's my challenge today. Stop taking inventory of your weaknesses for a moment. You already know them. Instead, ask yourself, what has God given me? How has he wired me? How has he used me in the lives of others? What strengths have I been overlooking because I've been focused on what I lack? Because in golf and in faith, growth often begins when we stop trying to play somebody else's game. Play your strength, develop your gift, and trust the one who gave it to you in the first place. Thanks for joining me this week on Shanktification. My name is Mark, and let me leave you with a reminder. The golfer who spends his life wishing for someone else's swing may never discover how good his own can become. And in the meantime, keep chasing better.