Steve-o's Devos: Grace vs. Law--Putting Around

Monday, a group of us went over to a local miniature golf course to enjoy one another's company and the beautiful Spring day. Miniature golf is the perfect game for those of us who like just a little bit of that fair day exercise. But it also has a way of focusing your attention on rather small details and plenty of obstacles. We of course decided to go with the course less travelled, the hardest of the two choices. I'm not convinced it matters all that much when it comes to mini golf courses, but off we went.

Each person teed off and then we played from the person with the farthest ball out next. This was a kind of unwritten law for the game play that day. There was one exception which seemed rather random. If your ball landed near the hole, say an inch or two, you could go ahead and tap it in. This little graceful rule worked pretty well. But early on in the game I kind of screwed a little--and in order to get to how this happened, I have to back up to the crucial beginning of the mini golf game--the color of the ball you use.

Yes, from the very beginning of the game, you have to make a choice. And wanting to be a good host I deferred to my friends to choose first. Of course, I secretly wanted the blue-colored ball, the one that of course improves my game no matter what. But, one of my friends chose it instead and I was left with other possible options. I went with purple, figuring it was a little close. And we headed off to the course.

A few holes in our game, and playing with this rule of letting the person with the ball furthest from the hole play first, I ended up making a crucial error. For my friend with the blue ball was but an inch from the hole, while purple ball lagged some 2 feet away within sight of the hole, but in the rough. "You go," the group said. So, I meandered down the little fairway, and without really thinking, tapped the blue ball into the hole giving my friend a score of "2". "HEY!" The group yelled, laughing at my mistake. So much for that law, and my friend decided to play my ball for the score--"7" is I am honest. Though I guessed this was fair, it did not feel that way.

Later, on another hole, my ball went right to the lip of the hole and stayed there. My friend with the blue-colored ball was next and as he putted his ball came down the fairway, circled the hole, and then gently pushed both my ball and his into the cup. Wow, a late hole-in-one. Now that was pretty funny and though I was thinking I should get "2" points, the group thought it should be "1". Somehow the game ended with me being just a few strokes ahead of my friend, thus winning the game.

Now all of this was well and good, but turns out it was a great lesson in experiencing the difference between the strictness of the law and grace (something one of the early Christian writers talks about extensively in a letter to the Romans). Under the law, we spend so much time making sure things follow along whether they are serve a good purpose or not. The laws we live under are important for living in community with one another, but sometimes we must discern whether a simple mistake is worth a little forgiveness and when that happens we experience true grace.

Grace is something we usually don't deserve and something we all are in short supply of sometimes. We know it when we are on the receiving end most of the time. This is how it works with God too. God's grace in our lives is ever present. We don't deserve it, and mostly just muddle along hoping that the mistakes we make will just lie in the rough, undiscovered.

I think sometimes God is a lot like those friends of mine on the mini golf course, finding humor in the times we make mistakes, and taking joy in our acknowledgment of our mistake and request for forgiveness. We just need to remember, God's grace was already there to begin with, made present in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

May you also discover God's grace in your life this week as you putter around.