Since the revelation of Tiger Wood’s adultery, a media frenzy has ensued introducing the American public to seemingly every escort service and Madam that Tiger Woods had a relationship with (no pun intended). Accenture, the ostensibly high performance global management consulting firm, announced that Tiger Woods is longer the “right representative” for advertising the firm. Why is that? Well the obvious answer is because Tiger Woods had two lives: the public life he wanted us to see and then the life that he led privately. Clearly, Tiger’s private extra-marital exploits do not line up with the high performance image Accenture wants to convey.

As I previously mentioned, this episode is a tragedy, but not completely unexpected. I mentioned that I personally found it odd that a man of Tiger’s accomplishments and net worth had not fallen into this situation. Why would I think that way? In light of the teaching of Scripture, we see that human beings have the unfortunate tendency to place accomplished people on pedestals. The teaching of Scripture also points us to the fact that the higher the pedestal, the greater the pressure to capitulate to the forces of evil latent in every heart.[1]

We are well aware of many inside and outside of the church of Jesus Christ who have fallen from great heights. Interestingly, one of the most profound examples of moral failure is recorded for us in Scripture, specifically a king in Israel that foreshadowed the Kings of Kings Himself.[2] The cautionary tale for the church is this: living in a fallen world more often than not, things are not what they appear to be[3], and that can be especially true inside of the church. We should pay close attention[4].

My point is that many in our midst are doing exactly what Tiger Woods has done, living two lives. Many of us attend church on Sunday morning and have our “Sunday Agenda” which might include attending church service (and possibly even Christian Education!), maybe even going to lunch with someone from church. Then throughout the week we have a different agenda that doesn’t begin to approximate the priorities of Scripture.

Dale Ralph Davis in his commentary on Judges records an interesting episode during WWII.[5] In late 1944 some 3000 English speaking German soldiers were disguised as American GIs causing havoc behind American lines. They smoked American brands of cigarettes, used American swear words, carried American identification cards, money and even letters and snapshots. They sped around in captured American jeeps, cutting communications, mixing up road signs, scouting movements of American reinforcements and removing warnings from minefields. Finally, American troops began their spy hunt. Road checks had to go beyond passwords, papers, and superficial questions. Instead GIs would ask, “Where is the windy city? Or order the “Americans” to say “wreath” (Germans almost always would say it with a hard “t” rather than a soft “th” sound). Once the counterintelligence agents spotted two American second lieutenants in a jeep watching American reinforcements rush by. Upon questioning, they offered dogtags, incoculation papers, and detailed stories of their Army experiences. They claimed they had trained at Ft.Hood (in Texas). Convincing, to a point. Then one agent asked: “Ever been to Texas?”, “No never”, came the response. The agent found his Germans.

Christianity does not boil down to “being nice, polite and attending church”. It boils down to whole-hearted commitment to the God of Grace and Truth[6] that has called us to himself which involves organizing our lives around the priorities of Scripture. Not only does that involve attending worship service on Sunday morning, but it means having a heart-felt devotional life, making time to develop relationships within the body of Christ and sharing the gospel with those who need to hear it. In other words, it requires effort on our parts. If this sounds burdensome to you, I would urge you consider the apostle’s words: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you — unless, of course, you fail the test? And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test.”[7]

Tiger Woods led a double life and the truth of his duplicitous life was ultimately revealed. Unlike Tiger Woods, many of us don’t have multi-million dollar endorsement agreements that are put at risk in leading duplicitous lives: in actuality, we have a more important relationship that is put at risk, our relationship with our Savior.

As the apostle tells us, we are called to “…be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”[8] The plain fact is that if we are living “two lives”, the truth of who we are will be revealed and often in very unpleasant ways. The practical reality is that Christianity calls us to set biblical priorities[9] even when they are not convenient in order to secure a life that is pleasing to the Lord. I trust that during this Advent season, we can reflect on these things and beseech the living Savior for his direction for our lives and church.

[1] 1 Kings 11:1-6.

[2] See 2 Samuel 12.

[3] Revelation 3:1.

[4] Proverbs 4:20.

[5] Judges, Such A Great Salvation, Dale Ralph Davis, Christian Focus Publishing, page 212.

[6] Mt 22:37

[7] 2 Corinthians 13:5-6

[8] 2 Peter 1:10-11

[9] Psalm 1