Watching Tiger Woods the over the last 15 years, we’ve seen one of the greatest athletes to ever live. He is the best golfer I have ever seen. Jack Nicklaus was past his prime by the time I started watching golf. Tiger obviously was very gifted. However, to reach the levels of suc- cess he reached, he had to work ridiculously hard. It required discipline and desire. To play at the level he played at required his focus to be on the game of golf. It was the same dedication we’ve seen from all the greats in their respective sports over the years. However, for anyone watching golf the last couple of seasons, we haven’t seen anything close to the same Tiger.

Whether it was due to his personal life, his body breaking down or a combination of both, we haven’t seen the same dedication to golf from Tiger. His work ethic does not appear to have the discipline that made him so great.

We as believers can learn from this when it comes to our spiritual lives. If we want live for the Lord and grow closer to the Lord, we must also be disciplined in our walk. In Deuteronomy 6, Moses was speaking to the Israelites and told them that they were to teach their children the Word of God diligently. The Word was to be with them when they woke up…and when they went to bed…and all the time in between. The Word is to our spiritual walk what food and water is to our physical walk.

We need every bit of that Word to keep us focused on Christ. If we let our circumstances take our eyes off of Jesus, and we don’t fill ourselves with the Word, we open ourselves to have a similar result as Tiger has had on the golf course. We must continue to feed the Spirit that dwells in us and help us continue to grow and depend on the Lord for all things.

By Brendan Handel

For a great ministry handout, order our Training Table To Go by clicking here.