{"id":35732,"date":"2024-05-20T11:05:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-20T15:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=35732"},"modified":"2024-05-20T11:05:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-20T15:05:24","slug":"what-scottie-schefflers-response-to-arrest-says-about-true-character","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/05\/what-scottie-schefflers-response-to-arrest-says-about-true-character.html","title":{"rendered":"What Scottie Scheffler’s Response to Arrest Says About True Character"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Mateo Villalba \/ Shutterstock.com | Inset: Louisville Metro Department of Corrections<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I planned to write today\u2019s Daily Article about golfer Scottie Scheffler\u2019s response to his early-morning arrest last Friday and the global coverage that has ensued. Then word came this morning that Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi died<\/a> in a helicopter crash Sunday in northwestern Iran. A hard-line prot\u00e9g\u00e9 of the country\u2019s supreme leader, his death is likely to set off what the Atlantic<\/em> is calling<\/a> \u201ca fierce scramble for power\u201d in the Islamic nation.<\/p>\n

The two stories offer the same reminder in starkly disparate ways: the time to prepare for the inevitable crises of life is before they happen.<\/p>\n

Dwight Moody noted that \u201ccharacter is what you are in the dark.\u201d However, our character is revealed to a skeptical world when the bright light of adversity shines on us. And none of us knows when that moment is coming.<\/p>\n

To be the people we most want to be, there is a choice we can make right now. Its consequences will shape this world today and echo in the next world forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what I admire the most\u201d<\/h2>\n

As everyone who follows the news knows, the world\u2019s No. 1 golfer was arrested Friday morning. A man had been struck and killed by a shuttle bus earlier that morning; Scheffler tried to drive around the crash scene when he was arrested by an officer and taken to jail.<\/p>\n

Golf Digest<\/em> has an in-depth account<\/a> of what happened and what happens next; most observers seem to think this was a misunderstanding. According to the Wall Street Journal<\/em>, other golfers at the scene \u201cdescribed<\/a> a rare level of pandemonium.\u201d One said of Scheffler\u2019s arrest, \u201cThat could have been any one of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

After he was booked and released, Scheffler stated<\/a>, \u201cThere was a big misunderstanding of what I thought I was being asked to do. I never intended to disregard any of the instructions.\u201d He added: \u201cAll of us involved in the tournament express our deepest sympathies to the family of the man who passed away in the earlier accident this morning. It truly puts everything in perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

Amid all the controversy, Scheffler finished the tournament tied for eighth at 13-under. But my point was made by a commentator I heard respond to the story over the weekend: \u201cOf all the things Scheffler could have said, you know what he didn\u2019t say? He didn\u2019t tell the officer, \u2018Do you know who I am?\u2019 He\u2019s the world\u2019s No. 1 golfer, but he didn\u2019t try to use his status. That\u2019s what I admire the most.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe physical organism through which Christ acts\u201d<\/h2>\n

We cannot ask others to be what we are not or lead them further than we are willing to go. A dentist with bad teeth is unlikely to have a thriving practice. A lawyer in constant legal trouble will have few clients but himself.<\/p>\n

This is especially true for Christians, since as C. S. Lewis noted, we claim that \u201cChrist is actually operating through [us]; that the whole mass of Christians are the physical organism through which Christ acts\u2014that we are his fingers and muscles, the cells of his body.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, seeking to be godly is our first step in persuading anyone else to be godly.<\/p>\n

After Scottie Scheffler won his second Masters championship last month, he told<\/a> interviewers: \u201cI believe in Jesus. Ultimately, I think that\u2019s what defines me the most.\u201d He added, \u201cI\u2019ve been called to come out here, do my best to compete, and glorify God.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one thing to honor the Lord when you win golf\u2019s most prestigious tournament. It\u2019s another to act with humility when you are arrested and thrust into the glare of the global media.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe splendor that irradiates our understanding\u201d<\/h2>\n

Yesterday was Pentecost Sunday<\/a>, commemorating the day when early Christians were \u201cfilled with the Spirit\u201d and launched the mightiest spiritual movement the world has ever seen (Acts 2).<\/p>\n

St. Hilary of Poitiers (c. 315\u2013c. 367) was a champion of orthodoxy and one of the most brilliant theologians in Christian history. In his treatise On the Trinity<\/em>, he wrote:<\/p>\n

We receive the Spirit of truth so that we can know the things of God. In order to grasp this, consider how useless the faculties of the human body would become if they were denied their exercise. Our eyes cannot fulfill their task without light, either natural or artificial; our ears cannot react without sound vibrations, and in the absence of any odor our nostrils are ignorant of their function. . . . It is the same with the human soul. Unless it absorbs the gift of the Spirit through faith, the mind has the ability to know God but lacks the light necessary for that knowledge.<\/p>\n

This unique gift which is in Christ is offered in its fullness to everyone. It is everywhere available, but it is given to each man in proportion to his readiness to receive it. Its presence is the fuller, the greater a man\u2019s desire to be worthy of it. This gift will remain with us until the end of the world and will be our comfort in the time of waiting. By the favors it bestows, it is the pledge of our hope for the future, the light of our minds, and the splendor that irradiates our understanding.<\/p>\n

St. Hilary was right: we experience the power of the Spirit to the degree that we wish to experience it. That decision is best made at the start of each day, seeking to be \u201cfilled\u201d and controlled by the Spirit as we yield our lives to him (Ephesians 5:18).<\/p>\n

Scottie Scheffler had no idea when last Friday began that he would soon find himself in a jail cell. You and I have no idea how this Monday will unfold. Consequently, the moment to submit to the Spirit and seek his empowering direction and holiness is now. The time to prepare for the crisis\u2014or the opportunity\u2014is before it comes.<\/p>\n

The question I\u2019ve written this article to ask<\/h2>\n

Billy Graham wrote: \u201cThe Holy Spirit is God himself, as he comes to live within us.\u201d He noted that the Spirit \u201ccomes to convict us of our sin,\u201d he \u201cgives us new life\u201d as we trust in Christ, and he \u201cproduces fruit in our lives\u201d as we reflect his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22\u201323). Dr. Graham added, \u201cThis fruit comes as we yield ourselves to the Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then he closed with the question I\u2019ve written this article to ask:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow yielded is your life today?\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on Crosswalk.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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