TEBOW AND THE MESSAGE

George Offerman

There is so much being made about Tim Tebow and his beliefs in the MSM and in society overall.  There are those who are totally disgusted with his openly showing allegiance to Jesus Christ by praying and giving Glory to God in public whenever he has the opportunity.  There are those who are reading into this winning streak and phenomenal play, God’s ‘blessing’ on this football team as a way of showing His approval for what is going on.  Then there are those who are claiming to be Christian, yet are embarrassed over the outward and very public demonstration of Tebow’s faith, and would rather he keep a ‘low profile’ and just ‘do his job’.

There is no question Tim Tebow is living his faith.  This young man is living a celibate and chaste life when the vast majority of his peers succumb to sexually acting out and using their fame and fortune in not such healthy ways, he is very involved in many different charities and is open about the story concerning his mother having had to choose to carry him to full term, when the medical profession was recommending to kill him in the womb.  It seems this young man has a sincere desire to get his message out and to live an exemplary life to demonstrate this gratefulness in having his opportunity to life his life.

This being said, there seems to be many different points of contention that are interfering in the message or meaning of this phenomena.  For instance, the debate about whether God ‘cares’ about football or not also seems to be a matter of question, and has the potential of being a very large distraction if this ‘streak’ ends, and Tebow falls from football grace.  Many may read into this that God is not that interested, or that a human quarterback or team cannot get the ‘divine’ mission accomplished, and demonstrating God’s ‘incompetence’.  This in effect, would put God on trial, and some may hold this as a standard in which God will ‘predestine’ Denver to win the super bowl.

This idea could be taken to another level, in which many could take the position that God is more interested in football than the laws of this country that ‘legalize’ child killing and homosexual marriage.  It would also minimize the churches role in which the current Christian church is doing little to promote the true message and as a result, inspiring very few.  It is true that God wants to save as many souls as possible, and if this is the case, it is very sad that it takes a quarterback on a football team to ‘evangelize’ a nation gone astray than a Church whose sole purpose of existence is to spread the Gospel.

God can use any method of spreading His word as He chooses, and maybe it is falling on the shoulders of a very young man who was nearly murdered before he was born.  But God’s message is not contingent upon this young man winning every game he plays in, and winning a certain trophy in February.  There are many more important issues that need our attention which are way more important than football, but maybe this is the only way God can reach the average American at this time.  What a sad commentary, if it’s true.

Maybe the real message of the Tim Tebow phenomena is how one can overcome incredible obstacles and do incredible things with real faith.  It very well may go to show that God is going to utilize whatever opportunity comes along, and if people cannot get the message through sports analogies, most likely they will not get the message even if someone was raised from the dead.