I Wish I Could Tell Tiger This

     I turned the news on the other night to hear Geraldo and a panel of pundits talking about the Tiger Woods sex scandal. I was shocked and appalled. Not by the behavior of Tiger, I had already heard about that. What blew me away were the comments by this news panel. One woman said, “Where Tiger went wrong was in mixing professionals (as in prostitutes) with amateurs. If he would have just stuck with professionals, his behavior would have been kept private.” One of the men on the panel said, “He got caught because he had too many mistresses. It’s one thing to put a couple of sugars in your coffee, but he poured the whole box in and that’s how his wife and everyone else found out.” All the while Geraldo is just nodding along with a smile as though saying, “Well, that makes sense.” They seemed more unsettled by the amount of money he spent to be with these women (as much as $60,000 a weekend) then they were by his moral depravity or the damage he has done to his wife and children.
     Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised. The moral fiber of our nation has been steadily eroding since the 60s. And in reality, things are not any worse here today than they were in the world when Jesus visited the planet. Tiger’s behavior is not all that different than many of the rich and powerful celebrities of the Roman world. In actuality, what sets him apart from many of the common people we rub shoulders with is that with his extravagant income, he had the money to do the kinds of things that many others would do if they could afford to….thinking they could get away with it.
     And that is the state of humanity.
     But believe me, I am not pessimistic about the human condition. I would be, had there not been an earth shattering event 2,000 years ago that was designed by God to rescue us from our own depravity. Jesus came to a degenerate and sinful world to offer escape from the devastating and eternal effects of sin. He became human to infuse spiritual life to those who receive Him.
     While Tiger says he is working to rebuild his family, what he really needs is reconciliation with God. Jesus offers that to Tiger and to you. Its not only an escape from the enslavement and ensuing effects of sin, its an offer of a brand new life!