He wants the media entourage to disappear from his life.
He wants to be left alone so he can manage his personal problems in private.
Not a chance.
The story began unfolding in the early hours of last Friday when he crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a tree and a fire hydrant near his Florida home. He refused to speak with the police about the incident, raising curiosity about the circumstances. The story has now escalated into allegations of marital infidelity, and that generated a blog post from Tiger that stated, “I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart.” This statement by Tiger has led most to believe that the allegations of infidelity are true.
Hunted by the Media As expected, the allegations of adultery involving a public figure are attracting a media pile-on. This is a big story with a big audience and it’s a story that will not disappear soon. Tiger Woods is being hunted by the media.
But let us make sure we do not join the hunt. A Christian’s response to this story should be distinctly different. We should not be entertained by the news. We should not have a morbid interest in all the details. We should be saddened and sobered. We should pray for this man and even more for his wife.
And we can be sure that in the coming days we will be in conversations with friends and family where this topic will emerge. And when it does, we can avoid simply listening to the latest details and speculations, and avoid speaking self-righteously, but instead we can humbly draw attention to the grace of God in the gospel.
Hunted by Sin But Tiger is being hunted by something more menacing than journalists. Tiger’s real enemy is his sin, and that’s an enemy much more difficult to discern and one that can’t be managed in our own strength. It’s an enemy that never sleeps.
Here is a word of encouragement for living the Christian life. “Don’t let failure give way to failure.” Perhaps there is an area of your life where determined to do better. You prayed that you would have victory. And, yet you find yourself continuing to stumble. So, you are tempted to just say, “Oh forget it.” I will never be able to get a handle on this.
If that is where you are at, then hear this verse from Proverbs 24:16,
For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity.(Pr 24:16).
The verse does not say that the righteous never stumble or fall. No, the difference is that even though a righteous many may stumble seven times, he still gets up again.
If you are a Christian you do not need to let failure give way to failure. The book of Lamentations tells us that the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. So, even if you have stumbled seven times, get up again. Find a mature Christian who will keep you accountable. Get help in finding victory.
As C.S. Lewis encouraged:
No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes in the airing cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us, it is the very sign of his presence.” C.S. Lewis quoted in Garland, David E. Colossians/Philemon The NIV Application Commentary, ed. Terry Muck. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.
Don’t let failure give way to failure. Get up off the ground and press forward for Christ’s glory and your joy. Have the same attitude as Paul when he said:
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.(Php 3:12-14)."
Wisdom is skill for right living. Wisdom is the saw we use to cut our way through life. We need a sharp saw if we are going to cut our way through life.
Proverbs is one of the best ways to sharpen your wisdom saw.For many years, I have made a practice of reading the chapter of Proverbs corresponding to that day’s date. Today, for instance, is November 18. My goal is to read Proverbs 18.
Lest I exaggerate, I don’t do this every single day. But, I do it many days and across years it makes a tremendous difference.
Often when I read Proverbs, I paraphrase a note as a way to talk to myself about wisdom. Below are some of the verses that recently struck me from Proverbs 18 with my notes to self.
18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; be breaks out against all sound judgment . . . Note to self: “Get thy sorry carcass to church this Sunday. Attend small group. Invite someone over. Don’t be isolated.”
Proverbs 18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion. Note to self “Shut and listen".”
Proverbs 18:8 Words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels; they go down into the inner parts of the body. Note to self “Gossip affects your spiritual waistline,” see here.
Proverbs 18:9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys. Note to self “Get to work.”
Proverbs 18:13 If one gives an answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame. Note to self: “Shut up and listen.”
Proverbs 18:17 One who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him. Memorizing this one. Note to self: “Don’t be too impressed when someone comes in and gives you one version of a story. Listen to the other side too.”
Proverbs 18:22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the Lord. Note to self: “Thank God for Jamie. I am the most favored man in human history.”
Proverbs 18:24 A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Note to self: “Thank God for Les, Chip, Jeff, Dave, Dan, and many others.”
Honorable people avoid strife. Foolish people are quick to quarrel.
Proverbs 20:3 in four different translations:
It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife, but every fool will be quarreling. ESV
It is to a man’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. NIV
It is an honor for a person to cease from strife, but every fool quarrels. The NET Bible.
Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man, But any fool will quarrel. NASB
John Frame offers one explanation of why we are sometimes critical and quick to quarrel, even though wisdom counsels against it:
Because we want glory for ourselves, we seek to find fault in others. Contentious people are constantly looking for something to argue about, some way to start controversy and disrupt the peace.” John Frame*
*Quoted in Jim Belcher, Deep Church, page 66, originally found in Evangelical Reunion (Baker, 1991).
There are two alternatives for dealing with a lion.
Sluggards make excuses:
“The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!”(Proverbs 26:13).”
Leaders kill it.
“And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was a valiant man of Kabzeel, a doer of great deeds. He struck down two heroes of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in a pit on a day when snow had fallen.(1 Chronicles 11:22).”
Let’s don’t be excuse makers. In Kevin DeYoung’s recommended words, let’s “just do something.”
People-centeredness (“the fear of man”) disguises itself in many forms. The question is not “if” you struggle with being people centered, but how.
(If you think you never struggle with being people centered, then in your case the problem may be pride, see egocentricity).
Mrs. Vitamin Z humbly explains how perfectionism may betray a “fear of man.”
. . . I realized what I have in the past called "perfectionism", "striving for excellence", "serving within one’s giftedness", is often just the ugly head of "fear of man". I am far too concerned with how I will come across, will others approve of me, will I measure up?
We recently finished Ed Welch’s book, "When People are Big and God is Small" in our home group. While, it obviously didn’t solve my problem with the fear of man, it has at least made me realize how often I struggle with it and remind me where I need to turn my thoughts. So finding myself once again in this familiar place, I thought I would just share the battle with you.
The best way for me to offset fear of man is to concentrate on the All-Surpassing Supremacy of Christ. . .
Besides perfectionism, what are some other ways we betray a “fear of man”? Brainstorming:
Shyness – (One that parents too often let go)
An unwillingness to have others into your home because of how you fear it looks – How much fellowship is lost in the Church because we are concerned our houses are too messy?
An unwillingness to pray in front of others
Being very private, not sharing prayer requests, or not being willing to talk to your pastor
Being overly critical
Always needing to tell the best story (listen to Bryan Regan talk about the “me-monster” and walking on the moon here)
“When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent (Proverbs 10:19).”
About two months into kindergarten, our daughter Allison gravely told her mother and me that someone had swore on the bus. Had Allison been given the burden of disclosing the news of original sin, she would not have been any more somber.
As Allison’s father, I knew that we needed to process this with her, so I asked, “What exactly what was said?”
Allison said, “Well, I am not going to say the word, because it is a bad word; it was the ‘sw’ word.”
I racked my brain to figure out what the “sw” word was. I grew up on a farm and farmers can be pretty colorful in expressing themselves when loading livestock or getting a tractor unstuck. But, I couldn’t for the life of me think what the “sw” word might be. I did wonder if the word was one frequently used in livestock contexts. That was my best guess.
Finally, I just said, “Allison tell me what the ‘sw’ word is.” She whispered. “’Shut up.’ I was singing on the bus today and a kid told me to shut up.” She shared this only reluctantly and as though she expected a bolt of lightning to strike our house after she said it.
(We never have gotten to the bottom of why “shut-up” was the “sw” word. Keep in mind she was in kindergarten).
Jamie and I were relieved that it hadn’t been worse. We were also pleased that “shut-up” was a phrase Allison considered out of bounds, so we nodded solemnly, agreeing with our daughter that, even if one lived only in the company of sailors, “shut-up” should be considered unsuitable language.
Now having said that, what I want to tell you today is that there are times when you should use the “sw” word: “shut-up.” Indeed, you should frequently say, “shut up,” with particular emphasis and gravity. You might practice spitting it out a few times even as you read this. You can say it very rapidly. Or, you can draw it out making each word last several counts.
What is undoubtedly more important than knowing how to say, “shut-up,” is knowing who to say it to. And, the person to whom you should say direct it is yourself. So, when you practice saying “shut-up,” use a mirror. Squint your eyes a bit and say it to yourself. This is the point.
Proverbs 10:19 says. “When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.(Pr 10:19).” While, it’s not a good idea to tell others to “shut up.” There is a time to whisper to yourself: “Shut up!” Or, you can even say it aloud, so long as it is clear to everyone within earshot that you are directing the imperative at yourself.
Or, if you want to be more literally biblical, say to yourself, “hold your tongue.”
Where words are many, sin is not absent. Note to self: shut-up.
"Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief (Proverbs 14:13)."
Have you ever noticed someone who seems to be making all the wrong decisions, and yet he or she seems happy about it? Perhaps you talk to a friend about wrong decisions and the person responds, “Well it may be wrong, but I’ve never been happier.”
How do you interpret that? What do you say to a person who is having the time of his or her life doing the wrong thing?
Proverbs 14:13 says that even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in grief. The person who seems to be laughing to you may still have a great emptiness or ache at the center of their lives. The laughter you see may only mask hurt that is inside.
If you are close, you might just ask the person, “Yes, I know there is ‘laughter’ in your life, but do you still ache as well?”
But, if the person counters that he or she is thoroughly happy about his or her direction, then consider warning them from the last part of the Proverb. “Joy may end in grief” Or, as Paul says in Galatians, don’t be deceived. God cannot be mocked. You will reap what you sow.
First, the answer: While many other causes are at work, there is a spiritual issue at stake. Bottom line: when God’s Word is not preached and proclaimed, people “throw off” self-control. Self-control, is after all, a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:23). It is no wonder that we are like a city whose walls are broken down (Prov 25:28) where eating is concerned.
An excerpt from my doctoral thesis:
There are consequences when the Word is not known. Indeed, Proverbs 29:18 submits:
Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law (Proverbs 29:18, ESV).
The word translated “prophetic vision” refers to special revelation or God’s Word.[1] The word translated “cast off restraint”[2] carries the idea of there being a total loss of social order. It is the same word used in Exodus 32:25 to describe the Israelite’s frenzy during the Golden Calf disaster. The NIV translation reads:
Moses saw that the people were running wild and that Aaron had let them get out of control and so become a laughingstock to their enemies (Exodus 32:25, NIV).
If a people do not hear God’s Word, then we can expect society to break down and even local churches to cast off restraint.[3] “Social harmony and restraint cannot be achieved without the exhortations of the prophets and the teaching of the law.”[4]
The Question posed by an article in the New Yorker:
. . . the next decade, Americans kept right on gaining. Men are now on average seventeen pounds heavier than they were in the late seventies, and for women that figure is even higher: nineteen pounds. The proportion of overweight children, age six to eleven, has more than doubled, while the proportion of overweight adolescents, age twelve to nineteen, has more than tripled. (According to the standards of the United States military, forty per cent of young women and twenty-five per cent of young men weigh too much to enlist.) As the average person became heavier, the very heavy became heavier still; more than twelve million Americans now have a body-mass index greater than forty, which, for someone who is five feet nine, entails weighing more than two hundred and seventy pounds. Hospitals have had to buy special wheelchairs and operating tables to accommodate the obese, and revolving doors have had to be widened—the typical door went from about ten feet to about twelve feet across. An Indiana company called Goliath Casket has begun offering triple-wide coffins with reinforced hinges that can hold up to eleven hundred pounds. It has been estimated that Americans’ extra bulk costs the airlines a quarter of a billion dollars’ worth of jet fuel annually.
Such a broad social development seems to require an explanation on the same scale. Something big must have changed in America to cause so many people to gain so much weight so quickly. But what, exactly, is unclear—a mystery batter-dipped in an enigma.
[1] “חָזֹון”, see Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, Edward Robinson, Charles A. Briggs, and Wilhelm Gesenius, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament : With an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic : Based on the Lexicon of William Gesenius as Translated by Edward Robinson (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979), 302. Waltke concludes that this word refers here to, “the sage’s inspired revelation of wisdom.” Bruce K. Waltke, The Book of Proverbs, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament, vol. 2 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 446.
[2]“פָּרַע,” has the idea of “let go, let alone.” Brown, Driver, Robinson, Briggs, and Gesenius, 828. There is some confusion about the meaning of this verse because of the King James Version translation, “perish.” See Robert L. Alden, Proverbs: A Commentary on an Ancient Book of Timeless Advice (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1983), 202.
[3] This Proverb has been used a great deal in recent years as a biblical defense for local churches writing vision statements. Writing a vision statement is a good idea. However, this verse doesn’t apply to that task. Alden summarizes, “Verse 18 has been misinterpreted for many years, probably because of the way it reads in the KJV; ‘Where there is no vision the people perish.’ ‘Vision’ here does not refer to one’s to need formulate goals and work toward them, nor does it mean eyesight or the ability to understand. ‘Vision’ instead is a synonym for what a prophet does. Thus its real meaning is God’s ‘guidance’ (TEV), ‘revelation’ (NIV), ‘authority’ (NEB), ‘prophecy’ (NAB).” Alden, 202. See also, Kaiser, 10-11. Kaiser applies this passage directly to a call for expository preaching. Delitzsch summarizes, “People are only truly happy when they earnestly and willingly subordinate themselves to the word of God which they possess and have the opportunity of hearing,” quoted in Waltke, 447.
[4] Duane A. Garrett, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, The New American Commentary, vol. 14 (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1993), 232.
In 1999, NFL quarterback Kurt Warner came out of nowhere (Iowa actually!, see also this link) to star in the NFL. Warner shared that when he first made it in the NFL he was watching television in a workout facility while running on a treadmill and readily admits that seeing his face on television was an exciting moment. He had wanted to make it in the NFL. Television time signaled his arrival.
But, Warner said that after watching himself for a few moments on television, he began to look around the workout room to see if anyone else noticed that he was on the television. In looking around, he stepped on the side of the treadmill and fell in front of everyone.
You can apply this one on your own.
Proverbs 16:18, Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Or, at the very least – - pride goes before tumbling off the tread mill.
“. . . Chris Brauns has done a magnificent job in helping us understand the true nature of biblical forgiveness. Every Christian will profit from reading and applying this book.” Jerry Bridges.
“ . . . Unpacking Forgiveness is an engaging, convicting but emphatically encouraging treatment of this hugely important (and sometimes mindbogglingly challenging) part of life. Dr. Brauns writes from the standpoint of a faithful, wise, experienced and caring pastor . . .” Ligon Duncan, First Pres, Jackson, MS
