Tebow Madness

So Tebow mania is sweeping the nation and I cannot keep my mouth shut anymore.  And not because of Tebow himself.  I love the guy's faith, the boldness with which he proclaims it, and the way he plays the game.  In fact, this blog has nothing to do with what Tim Tebow has or has not done.  This blog is about the way everyone else has responded, especially evangelical Christians, and specifically with respect to the evangelical response to Tebow's stat line last week against Pittsburg.  

Unless you are living someplace the US postal service doesn't deliver, you have probably heard by now that Tim Tebow threw for 316 yards against the Steelers, 3 years to the day that he sported John 3:16 on his eye black in the national championship game.  He also averaged 31.6 yards per game.  Adam Schefter, an ESPN columnist, wrote an article dealing with these numbers and several other stats involving 316 in that game that is posted on the ESPN website.  And while I think that the attention that John 3:16 is getting from the world is cool, I am kinda flabbergasted by the downright superstitious response of many Christians.

Now don't get me wrong, I root for the Donkeys, did before Tebow played for them, will when he is done playing for them.  I will watch tomorrow's game and root for the Broncos and Tim Tebow.  But this is a game played by grown men in tights.  And I have heard and read many Christians proclaiming as loud as possible how they see God in the football stats.  Praise Jesus (seriously)!  But at the same time, many of them don't, and cannot, see God in their work, families, lives, suffering, illnesses, finances, relationships, etc.  In fact they question where God is.  Do you see the sad dichotomy here?  I could write for hours about the often times sad state of affairs that occurs when you mix faith with competitive sports in America.  I'm a coach, I've seen it first hand - although I have also seen sports used in amazingly positive ways as well.  But quite frankly, I think Satan is more concerned with the outcome of sporting events than Christ.  Nothing like victory to make you think you don't need God and nothing like defeat to make you blame him.  Christ doesn't care about what is going on in a game as much as he cares about what is going on in your heart.  Christ has given Tim Tebow an amazing platform to make much of Christ, and it appears as if Tebow is doing just that.  But Tim Tebow, and only Tim Tebow, will be the one to give an account for how he uses his platform to make much of Christ.  The rest of us will give an account for how we have used our lives to make much of Christ.  What I see and hear from many professing Christians appears to be them vicariously living their "faith" through someone else.  Get off the bench and into the game.  Make much of Christ and proclaim the goodness and power of God in the hard, dark parts of life and not just when a 24 year old in tights trying to keep a dead animal away from other grown men who are also wearing tights puts up 316 yards.