What Ever It Takes

I wrote yesterday about the 5 Things You Must Do to Restore Your Marriage After an Affair. One of the things that I included as number 6 in my list of 5 was this:

6. Be willing to do whatever it takes to restore your marriage
I meet with people who have had affairs and they can’t believe their spouse wants to separate. They are upset that their spouse wants to see their cell phone. They are mad that their spouse has asked them to shut down Facebook or wants their password for their email. Give me a break! If you aren’t willing to quit your job to save your marriage…something is wrong. If you aren’t willing to stop traveling to save your marriage…something is wrong. If you aren’t willing to stop chatting over Facebook to save your marriage, something is wrong. If you have broken your marriage covenant with an extra marital affair, and you are saying you want to restore your marriage…put your money where your mouth is!

When I got home last night, my son Micah read to me an update from ESPN that said that Tiger Woods had sought help at a Sex Addiction Clinic in Mississippi. You can read the article from Yahoo! Sports HERE: I don’t know any of the details of Tiger Woods’ life, his story or his marriage. But what I do know is this: It would have been easy for him to wait for the PR surge to end and get a divorce. It would have been easy for him to take a few months off, wait for the firestorm to calm, and return to golf. But to be willing to seek help in this way communicates to me that he is as concerned about who he is as a person, as much as he is who he is on the golf course.

I have heard so many people who call themselves Christ followers make jokes about his affairs. I have heard so many people who say they are Christians be critical of Tiger Woods. I think it is easier to point out his flaws so we don’t have to face our own. The only difference between us and Tiger Woods is that his sin was made public…and so is his recovery…and he is still willing to do it.

Will his marriage survive? I have no idea. But what I see from him in this decision is a commitment to do whatever it takes to get to the root of the problem and not just deal with the symptoms. What about you today? Do you have this commitment to submit your heart to the work that God longs to do in your life by doing whatever it takes to fight for your soul, for your marriage, for your kids, for your family?