Find Your Tebow

Few professional football players have created more buzz than Denver’s Tim Tebow.  Since winning the starting quarterback position mid-season, Tebow has led the Broncos to four overtime victories including an incredible win this past Sunday night against the highly favored Pittsburgh Steelers.  In case you missed the game, it was the shortest overtime in NFL history because on the first play from scrimmage, Tebow threw an 18 yard pass to receiver Demaryius Thomas who stiff-armed cornerback Ike Taylor and ran down the right sideline for an 80 yard touchdown.

The Real Story

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Beall (Flickr: denverjeffrey)

The real story is that Tebow is an outspoken follower of Jesus Christ.  Raised in a missionary home, Tebow developed the habit of pausing and thanking God for the blessings he received each day.  That desire led him to kneel on the football field and pray in a gesture that amazingly has already become an accepted word in our culture – tebowing.  Imagine if a word was going to be invented based on your last name and the way you choose to live.  What are the odds that the word would have something to do with your love for Jesus?  As soon as Demaryius Thomas crossed the goal line Sunday night, the cameras immediately panned to Tebow to see what would happen next.  Of course everyone knew what would happen next—Tim Tebow bowed on one knee and thanked God.

Consistent with playoff traditions, the mayors of Pittsburg and Denver made a friendly wager.  If Pittsburgh won, as all the pundits predicted, the mayor of Denver promised to wear a Steelers jersey and wave a “terrible towel” like the Pittsburgh fans do during their games.  Of course he didn’t have to do that because Denver won.  So what did the mayor of Pittsburgh wager?  Donning a #15 Denver jersey and bowing on one knee, Tebow style.  The same day I saw the picture of Mayor Luke Ravenstahl tebowing on CNN, our local paper ran a political cartoon with President Obama tebowing and thanking the Lord for the current crop of Republican presidential contenders. Poor humor? Maybe.  But think about how the simple faithfulness of one athlete can capture the attention of an entire nation.

How Are You Showing That You Follow Christ?

The point here isn’t to start tebowing at business meetings after a successful sales report.  But there are plenty of simple ways to model your love for Christ in your everyday life.

The point here isn’t to start tebowing at business meetings after a successful sales report.  But there are plenty of simple ways to model your love for Christ in your everyday life.  It might be by the way you joyfully submit to your bosses’ leadership instead of gossiping behind her back.  Or your tebow may be straightening up the break room for your fellow workers even though it’s really someone else’s job.  Or perhaps it will be the fact that everyone on your team knows that you won’t fudge on your expense reports because you want to please Christ every day.

It’s as plain as Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount.  “Let your light so shine among men that they may see your good works and glorify your God who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:13).  Find your Tebow.

Steve Viars
Dr. Viars has served as a pastor and counselor at Faith since 1987. He is an author, national speaker, and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Biblical Counseling Coalition.