The lie that got the Governor of New York

The lie that got the Governor of New York

The Governor of New York apologized today to his family and the public for actions he refused to discuss. Apparently, he's been accused of being involved in a high end prostitution ring.

At first glance, a politician doing something shady barely warrants a second glance. But Governor Spitzer was supposed to be different. He made his name fighting crime and corruption. He was usually the one accusing people of things like this. In fact, Time Magazine once named him "Crusader of the Year."

What happened to him? How did he fall?

He believed the boxing ring lie.

You see, sin is like a foe waiting for you in a boxing ring. Standing in the corner, it is large and intimidating, dark and disturbed, quietly pacing back and forth waiting for you to climb between the ropes. And when you do, it crushes you in about 3.7 seconds. But we're smart, we don't like getting crushed, so we don't go in the ring much anymore.

That's why when I usually hear the testimony of a man that has crashed and burned it contains the following sentence:

"I thought everything would change when I got married."

For some reason, we men believe that our lust problems will be defeated by marriage. We believe that our struggles will be knocked out by our wives. So what do we do? We ask them to crawl inside the ring and fight our sin for us. Instead of dealing with issues, we ask our marriage or our wife to fight our battles. Even worse, sometimes we ask our kids.

It kills me when I hear someone tell me they're going to change, "now that they're a dad." That is the equivalent of asking a newborn to crawl inside a boxing ring and fight a tiger. It never goes well.

And Spitzer? What happened to him? Who knows for certain, but it's easy to imagine that he thought the power and the prestige of his office would help him with his sin. That if he could just be governor or just get to a certain office he wouldn't be tempted any longer. And so instead of dealing with his own junk he climbed the ladder as fast as he could. He theoretically asked his job to get in the ring and fight his sin.

The only thing that will ever win that match is God. Not your wife. Not your job. Not your kid. Not your best intentions. Whether you're the Governor of New York of an average guy like me in an average cubicle. If you get in the ring alone, you're going to lose.

P.S. Read "Why I write and why you should sing." It's fresh and new today.