In a recent interview Tiger Woods, reputed to be a billionaire golfer said, “I was living a lie, I really was.” He was referring to his marital misconduct involving adultery with several women. A transcript of his confession is in the public domain, which upon examination shows that he did not use the word adultery at all, but referred to cravings outside of himself.
Parts of the transcript follow. < Good morning, and thank you for joining me. Now every one of you has good reason to be critical of me. I want to say to each of you, simply and directly, I am deeply sorry for my irresponsible and selfish behavior I engaged in…..For all that I have done, I am so sorry….I have a lot to atone for….. The issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behavior. I was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame.
I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn't apply. I never thought about who I was hurting. Instead, I thought only about myself. I ran straight through the boundaries that a married couple should live by. I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled. Thanks to money and fame. I didn't have to go far to find them.
I was wrong. I was foolish. I don't get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself. I have a lot of work to do, and I intend to dedicate myself to doing it. Part of following this path for me is Buddhism, which my mother taught me at a young age. People probably don't realize it, but I was raised a Buddhist, and I actively practiced my faith from childhood until I drifted away from it in recent years. Buddhism teaches that a craving for things outside ourselves causes an unhappy and pointless search for security. It teaches me to stop following every impulse and to learn restraint. Obviously I lost track of what I was taught.
In therapy I've learned the importance of looking at my spiritual life and keeping in balance with my professional life. I need to regain my balance and be cantered so I can save the things that are most important to my marriage, my children and me.>
It is sad to see anyone fall into sin of any sort and for that sin to be arrayed in newspapers and on television programs throughout the world,. At this point we must remind ourselves that we are no different to him, we are all sinners, he broke the seventh commandment, “Thou shalt not commit adultery”, most of us would not get past the first one about loving God with all our heart and soul and strength. Jesus said to the people that wanted to stone the woman taken in adultery, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” (John 8:7) Mr. Woods said that he has a lot to atone for.
As a preacher of the Gospel of Christ I have to tell him and any other person that none of us can atone for our sins, only Christ’s death on the cross can avail for guilty sinners and only His precious shed blood can atone for our sins. “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1John1:7)
Another notable character that lived a lie was Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples that had followed Christ for three and a half years, but it was not adultery that was his downfall, it was the tenth commandment, covetousness. Judas Iscariot had been given the responsibility of the apron with the scrip or bag that contained the money that had been given to the Lord and His followers for their support. It is John who tells us that Judas criticized Mary of Bethany when she anointed the Lord prior to His death. He said, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.”
John wrote his gospel possibly sixty years afterwards and though perhaps he did not know what Judas was up to at the time he certainly knew later, that some of the funds went missing and who the culprit was and so he says, ”He was a thief” Judas concealed his thieving from the others, but the Lord knew all about him. Whatever our sin is God can forgive us if we are repentant and call upon Him in faith for salvation.
Judas is remembered most for his betrayal of Christ.
At this Easter season we recall the events that took place according to prophecy. Zechariah 9:9 says, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass” telling us of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem upon the colt the foal of an ass. In ch.11:12 of that prophecy he says, “And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. This is the price that Judas sold the Saviour to the priests for, and what happened to that money when he threw it back into the Temple treasury, the Priests bought the Potters field with the money because it was not lawful for them to put ‘blood money’ into the treasury.
Remorse made Judas realize the intensity of his sin and he committed suicide. It is one thing to live a lie, but if one dies in their sin, nothing but perdition awaits them, as it did for Judas. If you die in your sin you can never go to be with Christ in Heaven, but like Judas you will be a son of perdition.
Whatever your sin, turn to Christ in repentance and trust the One who died for our sins, to save us and give us eternal life.
God bless,
Written by Stan Burditt of Northampton
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