How does the devil do his best work?
Though I am sure that the media will continue to dissect the apology by Tiger Woods in a thousand ways, there were a few lines that leapt off the page for me.
I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules did not apply. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled.
Boom. There is the heart of every sin, of every down fall, of every broken heart and broken promise. “I convinced myself that the normal rules did not apply to me.” Isn’t that precisely how the devil tempts Jesus? Notice that the devil begins and ends his temptations with the line “IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD…” If you are the son of God, then the normal rules don’t apply to you. If you are special and loved by God, then you can call your own shots. If you enjoy the privileged relationship with God, then don’t you think you can do it your way, trust your own choices, enjoy your own luxuries, live life according to your terms? You don’t have to know hunger or want. You can be powerful and change the world. God will protect you and keep you safe. That’s one of the evil one’s best tools. You get to play by a different set of rules.
And like many before him and many who will come after him, AND you and I, if we are honest, Tiger bought into that lie, succumbed to that most delicate of all temptations – you can do it your way. God’s rules, the boundaries that help protect marriage and foster family life, the commandments that serve to keep our hearts focused on God – they don’t apply to YOU. You’re special. Unique. You’ve worked hard. Now enjoy the things that are coming to you… That is one of the devil’s best tricks. Believe in that, and he’s got you…
Yet, as much as Mr. Woods was a model of how easy it can be to fall under that temptation, his words also offer us the way out.
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 hurt my wife, my kids, my mother, my wife's family, my friends, my foundation, and kids all around the world who admired me. That is the nature of sin. It bears a consequence, even if we don’t see it or don’t want to see it.
And the path home is the path of honesty – of seeing the consequences of our actions, acknowledging them and making that choice to let God be the center. Again, in Mr. Wood’s word’s: “My failures have made me look at myself in a way I never wanted to before. It is now up to me to make amends. It is up to me to start living a life of integrity.”
Jesus would put that in a slightly different vocabulary, but with the same result:
You see, the deepest truths about you and me is that by the grace of our baptism – we are God’s sons and daughters. Beloved. Loved. Called. Graced. And commissioned. And that means the normal rules of being a son or daughter applies to us. May we have the grace to recognize that favorite temptation of the devil to believe otherwise, and like Jesus, the courage and the sense to run to our God for his strength and grace in all our temptations.
Amen. Amen…