That ear-popping thud you recently heard was Tiger Woods landing at rock bottom after falling from an altitude that few reach in terms of personal achievement and public celebrity. As sordid details of his trysts with a number of women became public, the image of the self-disciplined, focused, chiseled athlete was shattered. In its place is the growing image of the reckless, undisciplined, even pitiful man who could not or would not control his impulses. The endorsement-rich Tiger who was the face of such companies as Gatorade and Accenture has been dropped by these sponsors since his personal escapades have been exposed. In the space of a few weeks, Tiger went from the poster boy for success to the media circus clown. Tiger has severely damaged, it not destroyed, his image and his career – not to mention his family.
The average person watches this story unfold and wonders in disbelief. How does a guy who has everything fall apart like this? The things that most people spend their lives dreaming about were things that Tiger possessed in large quantities. Tiger has money and all the toys it can buy. Tiger has achieved more in less time than anyone in the sport of golf. He has built an empire around his success. There is little in life that Tiger Woods couldn’t do or have if he so desired.
As I thought about Tiger’s demise, it took me back to Ecclesiastes and King Solomon. The famous King wrote a memoir of sorts about his own experience with money, power, fame, and empire building. The book of Ecclesiastes chronicled the attempts of King Solomon to fill his life with stuff in hopes of some kind of ultimate fulfillment. Name just about any desire or envied accomplishment in the ancient world and Solomon could have said, “been there…done that.” Money, sex, power, fame, accomplishment, family and all that goes with these things – it was all part of King Solomon’s resume.
When you read Ecclesiastes, you see this ironic reversal of expectation. You would expect a man who had all these things to speak of his sense of accomplishment and fulfillment. Instead, he describes it in opposite terms. From a quick survey, it looks like Solomon used the word “vanity” twenty-six times in his book. He used “futility” eleven times. Nine times he used the phrase “striving after wind” to describe his experience. Far from finding fulfillment in all his hedonism, it left him empty.
At the end of Solomon’s memoir, he says this:
The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (Eccl. 12:13-14)
Solomon tried it all. He had seen it all. In the end, he came to realize that the source of genuine fulfillment is a relationship with God. To fear God is to know God in true personal relationship. In Old Testament language, Solomon was really expressing the truth of the gospel song, “only Jesus can satisfy your soul.”
Solomon was expressing a gospel reality. People were made to find their joy in a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. To fill your life with anything else, only leads to emptiness. No matter what it is, you will be left wanting more. C. S. Lewis stated it this way: We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased. (The Weight of Glory, C.S. Lewis)
My purpose in citing the woes of Tiger Woods is not to pile on. My purpose is to remind us that there is a part of all of us that wants to be Tiger Woods. We daydream about what it would be like to have his empire. But his example reminds us that all the stuff in the world, all the fame in the world, all the sex in the world, all the trophies in the world cannot fill the empty heart.
Only Jesus can.
