As Tiger Woods goes through these, difficult and unfortunate circumstances with his family, I wonder how many of us have actually prayed for him. Many people might think “why even bother, he brought this on himself.” While I agree that he did bring this on himself…in fact, he messed up big time, that doesn’t change the fact that he and his family need prayer or that we should pray for them. As a matter of fact we should pray for his mistresses too!
It’s important for us to keep in mind that many of the difficult things that WE go through are the result of us making bad decisions…walking a path that is different from the one that God has designated for us. These are things that we often pray about and submit prayer requests for. We are not so different from Tiger. We’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Like the song writer said “A Saint is just a Sinner who fell down…and got up!”
I’ve heard some people say “Well, he shouldn’t have gotten married. If he wasn’t married it wouldn’t be such a big deal.” This may be true from the world’s standpoint but in God’s eyes sex outside of marriage is the same as sex with a person other than your spouse, which is the same as sex with the same sex, which is the same as stealing, killing, lying, etc.,… it’s called SIN. God calls us to a much higher standard than the world has! A standard so high that even if you look upon a woman with lustful thoughts you’ve already committed adultery with her in your heart!
I exhort everyone who reads this to live by the infallible word of God! He’s contained it very nicely in a book called “The Bible”. At least then, you will know that you are getting the truth ‘cause this world we live in is backwards! The world feeds us tons of bull crap and the term “politically correct” is leading the way. Some companies will temporarily end their deals with Tiger for cheating on his wife but you can find sex all through their ads. I say temporarily because when Tiger wins a tourney, and the disappointment that people feel now has lessened, those companies will jump right back on board. I digress…
James 5:16 says “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”
Tiger is one of the richest, most well known people in the world. There were times that I actually wished that more people in the limelight had the “moral” image that Tiger had. For the most part what’s done in the dark will come to light. For most of us “coming to light”, in this case, would mean telling our wives but for Tiger it means telling the world too. This dude crashed his own truck near his own property and because of who he is, and this new 24 hour news cycle, the whole world is being entertained by all of his family business…business that most of us would be able to deal with amongst our own family, without the world to see.
So, I’m praying for Tiger, that he and his family may be healed. And maybe through all of this, if he hasn’t already, he’ll come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Like the song writer said “A Saint is just a Sinner who fell down…and got up!”