Well, well, it appears Tiger has been caught out. Mr. ‘Squeaky Clean’ isn’t so spotless after all. Today Tiger released a public statement after several days of media frenzy over his car crash and rumours of adultery. He came clean and confessed to the world his personal failings. And the world lapped it up.
I have felt sick this week. At Tiger’s moral lapse? More at the disgusting drooling of the world’s media (and, yes, their audiences) over the opportunity to publicly and irreparably tear a man apart and drag his life and family through the mud. A generation always eager to label itself compassionate and non judgemental crowing in delight at being able to drag a good reputation down to our level. As soon as his minor accident happened, unsubstantiated rumours were flying round everywhere for days and didn’t let up. Perhaps you’ve been someone who’s shaken your head at him this week, or other high profile names exposed over the years – I know I have in the past, making cyncial quips to family and friends about their hypocrisy. Sickness at what I’ve seen on tele this week is really sickness at the mirror of my own attitudes held up high. Because, how would you like it if all your failings and dark secrets were trawled across the news as cheap and cynical entertainment for the masses? If the depths of your heart and your past were laid bare, would you do any better? Would you be perfectly comfortable with that?
The fact is, the Bible says clearly that all our sin and wickedness is exposed…before God. His eyes see straight through us, to the very depths of our souls. Nothing in our past is buried and forgotten from him. And far from crude banter and mockery, God’s response to the selfishness, pride, deceit, lust, greed, envy etc in our hearts is burning anger and judgement.
But there is good news. God doesn’t gloat over our brokenness like we do over each other. Jesus came into our world to show us who God is – and did so by a profound act of love – taking all our guilt and shame on himself who didn’t deserve it, bearing punishment that wasn’t his, so we could be free and reconciled to God. Removing our sin as far from God’s sight as the east is from the west. Because of the cross, if our trust is in Christ, God sees everything bleak and horrible in us and yet doesn’t recoil in horror or crush us in disgust. We can be reconciled to God not by moral superiority, but through simply clinging in trust to Jesus’ death for us, which leads us to change. That’ s good news for Tiger, for me and for you, if we only accept it.
And if you’re a Christian reading this, let’s show to the world a little more of the grace God has shown to us in Jesus. In so many ways the church is losing it. Jesus was known to get very angry – at people who didn’t believe they were sinners and gloated over others. None of this excuses sin. But the warm, tender and powerful grace of Christ Jesus is the only answer to it – not only the penalty for sin we deserve, but also it’s power over our lives. We need to take hold of that for ourselves and show it to others.



you need to think about who you would be in the story if you were alive back then. But whatever you do, don’t imagine for a second that you’d be David. Don’t imagine that this story is about how you can conquer the giants in your life by something you have in yourself (the 5 stones of whatever random qualities you think up).That story is the story of God’s people facing an enemy too great for them, until God’s anointed King (a shepherd, and unlikely looking King) comes and defeats the enemy they could never beat themselves. And unless you’re Jewish (and I’m not) don’t think then that you’d be in the army of Israel. The enemy of God and his people were the nations of the world who in their rebellion turned against God. All of us would be in the ranks of the Philistines, facing the pointy ends of Israelite swords. End of story…until the true and final King of God’s people turns up to die on a cross – to defeat the enemy – but not just to wipe us out. To defeat our sin and death and call us into God’s people, so we would no longer be his enemies if we put our trust in him. Realise that, and be thankful for his grace to you.
I’m starting to get ready to move. There’s a phase of my life – a very important and precious one – that is drawing to a close. And a new one beginning. I’m just putting it out there, on this unread blog out into the electronic ether, that what I’ve been planning to do for so long is now coming up, and I’m starting to feel it.
others, but all try and stir up questions and get people thinking. Apparently when it came out the ‘Jesus loves Osama’ poster caused a fair bit of a stir round Sydney.
And look, I know that theology has got a bad name from old guys with patches on their elbows or socks and sandals sitting round arguing about the Greek alphabet, and I’m not into that at all. And I get that the Christian life needs to be more about knowing correct info about the Bible. But knowledge of God and his gospel is in fact how we enter into the new life of Christ. The Bible never pits heart against head but calls for us to submit our hearts to the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ in trust. And through this trust (faith) we receive grace resulting in joy and hope and love.
with God. There’s a lot of stuff people come up with about life in the Spirit, but Jesus told us the work of God’s Spirit – to testify to the Son (John 15:26). This living experience of God is to be directed back to the gospel of Jesus, to know him more through his work on the cross, and to be transformed by that knowledge into the likeness of Jesus ourselves.