A Decade's Burden
On June 19, 2011, my brother Isaac and I scrambled around a small pond in order to secure a view across it for the moment a 22-year-old kid named Rory McIlroy sealed his first win in a major golf tournament. He did it in dominant and convincing fashion, winning by eight strokes. McIlroy would win three more major tournaments over the next three years, and it seemed all but certain he was on a legendary trajectory.
Then a decade passed without another win in a major.
The kid named Rory is now a slightly graying nearly-36-year-old, and, while unquestionable still one of the very best in the world, has been constantly asked why he hasn’t won another major golf tournament. The questions have intensified after several close calls in which he has surrendered a lead late in a tournament.
The questions began to rise again this week at the 2025 Masters in Augusta, GA, as McIlroy made a bogey on the last hole to surrender a one-stroke lead. Those questions soon evaporated, however, on the first playoff hole when his birdie putt dropped, sealing his fifth major win and making him just the sixth player in history to achieve a career grand slam—a win in each of the four major tournaments.
You did not need to be a golf fan to see the visible impact of the victory. McIlroy tossed his putter, fell to his knees, and was wracked with sobs. It was clear the weight of more than a decade of pressure had been immense, and it had all finally lifted. It wasn’t so much elation from victory, but much more the escape from a heavy burden.
While I witnessed his first victory in a major, I do not know Rory McIlroy. But I do know the pressure I saw in his being over the weekend. I do know the sense of overwhelming relief that comes from having a tremendous and long-borne burden lifted. I do know the gift of being unburdened.
So do you.
You can relate to the moment Rory’s putt dropped and all the emotion and stress that had been long contained was finally set free.
You can relate because the burden you bore—just as I did—was one of sin and broken relationship with your Creator. You can relate because it was a burden greater than you could bear. You can relate because it is a burden that gets heavier with each passing day, and with each accusatory question about why you continue to fall short.
And you can relate not because you finally made the putt that silenced the questions, but because your Savior paid the price that silenced your accuser.
Your burden is lifted not because you finally figured it out and stopped falling short, but rather because the very Son of God stepped in and closed the gap between your shortcomings and the holiness of the Father.
He stepped in and gave a final answer to the questions hurled at you. He not only gave an answer, He IS the answer.
In retrospect, a decade’s burden on one of the world’s greatest golfers pales in comparison. You, my friend—and I—once shouldered the burden of permanent death! But it is no more! Your Savior has lifted it, and you are forever free!
The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.