The story of Tiger Woods is tragic but it is not unfamiliar. A public figure, at the height of his career, is caught in moral failure. Like Bill Murray’s character in the movie, Ground Hog Day, we awaken to the same scenario over and over again until lessons are learned and results change.
The following are 10 lessons we can learn from the Tiger Woods affair:
1. Success without grounding and accountability is failure.
2. Money and fame are not equals to character and honor.
3. Public performance and private life are not exclusive of one another – good judgment is the common thread.
4. Few things command greater respect than a person accepting full responsibility for his actions.
5. When marital vows are honored, heartache is kept at bay.
6. Forgiveness is so powerful that it is at times one’s only hope.
7. Today’s secrets are tomorrow’s revelations.
8. One’s greatest legacy is one’s family.
9. It is never too late to do what is right.
10. The greatest comebacks are found not in the arena of sports but in matters of the heart.
The issue of private sin is not exclusive to Tiger Woods. It is an epidemic in America. We have become a morally schizophrenic nation. We have quietly tolerated and fueled a ten billion dollar pornography industry. America’s best selling books, movies and songs glamorize the very same actions for which people now condemn Tiger Woods. The Bible described the dilemma thousands of years ago, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure.” Ecclesiastes 2:10
As Tiger Woods steps away from golf indefinitely to focus on his family and his inner struggles we are reminded of our own responsibilities. Our energies are best pursued, not in pointing a finger at Tiger Woods but in taking a stand against the factors that contribute to moral delinquency in America. We have lost our moral compass. We have turned our backs on God. The hope for Tiger Woods and America are the same…humble ourselves, repent and return to our first love.
Rev. Bill Shuler is pastor of Capital Life Church in Arlington, Virginia. For more, click here.
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