Several years ago
I worked with a man whose wedding ring was engraved with the word mulligan
because he and his wife had remarried after divorcing many years before. Not
being a golfer, I was unfamiliar with the term.
According to
Wikipedia, “a mulligan is a second
chance to perform an action, usually after the first chance went wrong through
bad luck or a blunder. Its best-known meaning is in golf whereby a player is
informally allowed to replay a stroke (though this is against the formal rules
of golf). The term has also been applied to other sports and games, and to
other fields generally. The origin of the term is unclear.”
In April of this year,
twenty-one year old Jordan Spieth took first place in the U.S. Masters
tournament, one of four major championships in professional golf. The young Mr.
Spieth set several records on his way to winning the tournament. You can be
sure that nowhere during the event was he allowed a mulligan.
Fortunately for
us, God is a God of second chances, a God who regularly provides His people
with a mulligan, a “do over,” if you will. For example, Rahab was a prostitute,
yet is part of our Lord’s lineage. Or consider Paul who persecuted Christians,
yet became a great missionary. Then there was the prophet Elijah who fled in
fear and asked God to let him die. But God sent an angel to refresh Elijah
before telling him to anoint Hazael king over Aram.
Do you sometimes
wish there was a rewind button in your life? Have you recently said or done
something you instantly regretted? Or perhaps you are arguing with God about a
task he would have you do. It’s not too late for a mulligan. Your second chance may be less dramatic than
that of these Bible characters, but it is no less miraculous. And it’s
available. You just have to ask.
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