The recent apology from Tiger Woods had been debated by many. While he has convessed what he has done, he still has quite a few sponsors who are leery at best and ignoring him at worst.

Can he recover his legacy? And, will (or can) he be forgiven?

the answer to both lies in the public. Forgiveness is something people seem rather willing to give if it is sincere. One thing that is important to remember is this: Forgiveness doesn’t mean saying something was right. In fact, in saying it needs forgiven, it’s flat out saying it was wrong.

There are, of course, different levels of wrongdoing. What Tiger Woods did was to sin – committing adultery – on a mass scale. There were no crimes involved. However, it was still an incredible breech of trust. While very few have committed crimes, a much larger percentage of people have at least looked on other adults with lust in their hearts, committing adultery in their hearts, as our Lord Jesus Christ says. Indeed, all of us need forgiven – if not for that, for some other sin.

We can do nothing to earn that forgiveness ourselves, just as Tiger Woods can do nothing to earn our forgiveness. Forgiveness is something that must be given freely. It is not earned or deserved. It is always a free gift. For by grace ar eye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. One must receive what Christ did for them by simple faith – trust that Jesus Christ, God in flesh, lived a perfect life and died on the cross to take the punishment for your sins, as your substitute, and that He rose from the dead the third day. He did all that was needed to get you to Heaven.

A person can work to regain trust, of course, and that will be important. it’s a hard thing to do – which is why the Apostle Paul warns of the need to finish well in the Christian life. It looks as though Tiger Woods wants to do that. But, the Bible doesn’t tell us to trust others. It says to forgive one another, as God for Christ sake hath forgiven us.

Trust must be earned by showing oneself trustworthy in small things first, so they can be trusted in larger things. A young teen I know is mature enough to watch her siblings. She would like to babysit outside the family, for anyone. But, she is just now working to earn her parents’ trust with those younger siblings. Once she does that, she will have the privilege of watching other peoples’ children. As she gets a larger resume and more references, more people will trust her, if she does a good job.

But, if she were to mess up – let’s say she takes her eye off a younger child and he gets hurt – she will be forgiven right away. that is, her parents will still love her. They might decide she’s not ready yet to be trusted with certain responsibilities, but that doesn’t mean they will love her any less.

This is an important concept when it comes to rebuilding his legacy, and Tiger being forgiven. Whenever he plays again, he is going to have to earn that trust. It’s up to the public to decide to put their trust in him again. In the cynical world we live in, it’s easy to wonder what people we can trust, but we can’t just refuse to trust anyone. it will take time for Tiger Woods to rebuild his legacy, but it seems quite possible for him to do so. The public, though cynical at times, does seem ready to let him build that trust up with them again. It’s just like in the Bible, when the Apostle Paul started out, just after his conversion. It took him a while to be trusted by those in Jerusalem, till Barnabas was willing to take a chance. However, that doesn’t mean the early apostles didn’t forgive the former Saul of Tarsus. It just means that they understood only God could be trusted completely.

However, forgiveness – which is also up to the public – is something that isn’t earned or deserved. In fact, true forgiveness means forgiving Tiger Woods before he ever made his apology; just as Jesus called out ont he cross, “Forgive them, Father, they know not what they do.” He certainly can be forgiven; because all of us have sinned and need forgivness, which was given to us through the wonderful cross, and the shed blood of Jesus, as the remission for our sins.

Lots of people were asking, in the hours after Tiger Woods’ admission of “transgressions,” what in the world are transgressions?  It’s not a car part or the newest sandwich at your favoriate fast food place (though dieters might think it one), but instead, a word which, if we understand, can give us real success.

King David, in the Old Testament, committed much worse ones than Tiger Woods. He lusted after one of his generals’ wives, Bathsheba, had an affair which resulted in pregnancy, then – when the general, Urriah, wouldn’t sleep with his wife Bathsheba – had him killed and married her.

When he realized that God knew just what had happened, even if he’d hidden it from everyone else, he wrote Psalm 51.  It was his true, heartfelt prayer to God. At the end of the first verse, he pleads with God, according to His tender mercies, to “blot out” his transgressions.

Transgressions are sins. But, the word carries a greater meaning – it shows the stain that sin creates.  A stain that must be blotted out, just as a blotter is used to clean up ink. (No, I’m not old enough to remember using those, but I do love history.)

Our society doesn’t think about the consequences of their actions.  Therefore, we don’t really think about transgressions.  It’s a word that shows we have stains on our hearts, on our lives, that require cleansing.  Just as Davis prayed for God to blot out his transgressions, we all need ours blotted out.

Why? because we are all sinners.  Not everyone would do what Tiger Woods did – and certainly not many people would ever act as King David did.  But, those stains upon our hearts mean that we can’t enter Heaven.  Heaven is a perfect place, where there is no pain, no suffering, no tears.  There can be no sin there.  If there was even one little bit of sin in Heaven, it could make someone suffer, and then it would not be Heaven anymore.

It’s interesting that this came out around Christmas.  Because, this is when we celebrate God’s gift to us.  He came into this world to be born of a virgin, to live a perfect life, and to take the punishment for our sins, the just for the unjust, when He died on the cross and rose from the dead.  He did blot out our transgressions.

David had faith to know that would happen someday.  I don’t know Tiger Woods’ heart, so I don’t know if he’s truly repentent – I do pray that he is.  But, this is a good reminder that each of us has transgressions in our lives.

We haven’t all committed every sin. But, we each have stains in our actions, words, or thoughts – remember, Jesus says that if we lust after someone we’ve committed adultery in our hearts. These are stains on our record that God must blot out.  Instead of an ink blotter, though, we have the only thing that can blot out our transgressions.  It is the perfect blood of our sinless Savior, Jesus Christ, which was shed for each of us.

It is only through faith in His finished work on the cross as blotting out our transgressions that we can go to Heaven. This is because only His blood can wash away the stain. It also allows us to have a relationship here with Him on Earth, so He can help us through all the problems and pitfalls of life.  God wants to have a personal relationship with each of us.