If you are like I am, as a committed Christian guy, I am pulling for Tim Tebow. I want him to succeed as the quarterback of the Denver Broncos. But I agree the jury is still out as the whether or not he will make it as the starting quarterback. What I find interesting is the public fascination with Tebow. There are many of us who admire him for his strong faith and his willingness to be so public regarding his convictions. There are others who respect him for his character, what the people in pro football call ”’the intangibles.” Others pay attention and just don’t know what to make of Tim Tebow. The fans in Denver wanted him to have his shot at quarterback. Time will tell if he will remain a favorite with the fans as a player.
As a result of his bowing, on one knee, and praying on the sidelines next to his fellow teammates while they waited for Matt Prater to hit the 52-yard field goal that gave Denver an 18-15 victory in overtime, a new trend called “Tebowing” has sprung up. According to Tebowing.com the word means, “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone esle around you is doing something completely different.” My questions to the guys who read this blog is this, “Why this sudden phenomenon of Tebowing?” What do you think? Are you in favor of the practice? Would you practice Tebowing? I have asked myself that question. I also wonder what skeptical nonbelievers thinks of all this.
For me, Tebowing has made my evaluate my public witness for Christ. Should I have a bolder witness for Jesus? Am I more concerned about what others might think of say? What is appropriate in a pluralistic culture such as ours? I know that words of Mark 8:38 from The Message give me pause to wonder about my public witness. “If any of you are embarrassed over me and the way I’m leading you when you get around your fickle and unfocused friends, know that you’ll be an even greater embarrassment to the Son of Man when he arrives in all the splendor of God, his Father, with an army of the holy angels.” I have to admit that I feel embarrassed in some secular settings. Jesus is not rejecting me for my weak public witness, but I could be embarrassing him.
But I do think that Tim Tebow is a challenge to all of us men. We are to be public witnesses to our faith. We are to have courage and boldness. We are to be ready for opposition and ridicule. Jesus said this would happen. “If you find the godless world is hating you, remember it go its start hating me. If you lived on the world’s terms, the world would love you as one of it own. But since I picked you to live on God’s terms and no longer on the world’s terms, the world is going to hate you” (John 15:18-19 – The Message). After the game against the Detroit Lion, one lion’s lineman, Stephen Tulloch, celebrated tackling the Denver quarterback by dropping to one knee and imitating Tebow’s “Tebowing” prayer pose. Tight end Tony Scheffler added salt to the wound by performing the move following his touchdown in the first quarter. You can be sure this will not be the end of how people react to Tebowing.
I personally rejoice in the fact that here is a young man who has the courage of his convictions. He is honest and sincere. He wants to use his national platform to be a witness for Jesus. So I take Tebowing as a challenge to godly men who live in a more and more hostile culture. Let’s examine our public witness. Let’s allow ourselves to ask some hard questions about wanting acceptance and favor, while not seeming to be out of place. For each of us, there has to be a line as to how far we go to be polite and “politically correct.” When do we witness about Jesus by simply telling our story. I believe you will be hearing more about Tebowing among your friends who are NFL football fans. What a great opportunity to give a simply witness to your faith in Jesus.
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