&fterthought: Tebow.

There is Tebow-mania going on in the sports world and it’s incredibly polarizing. It seems that everyone has a stance on Tebow’s public acknowledgement of faith. Even people that don’t know much about football can say something about how they feel about Tebow praying after every touchdown. This is how oddly polarizing Tim Tebow is: there are non-christians who like Tebow for standing up for what he believes in, and there are christians who dislike Tebow for shoving their faith down people’s throats. How does an issue get more dividing than that?!

To non-christians against Tim Tebow:

If you’re going to attempt to make our God look ridiculous by making cute charts like this, then there’s a few things you need to know.

First: You hold an assumption that, if God existed, He is currently prioritizing Tebow’s football game over third world poverty. God’s priority is for His glory to be made known throughout the world. I’m not one to say whether it comes from a football game or not, but I know that it’s a bad assumption. You’re the one that prioritizes football over third world poverty, and you assume that God conveniently thinks the way you do!

Second: You also hold the assumption that it’s God’s fault that this poverty exists in the first place. If you’re going to assume that God exists, then why don’t you see what God says about the issue? What you’re going to find is that brokenness came to the world because of human (that includes your) sin, and God is in the business of restoring all brokenness. He is currently helping the poor, the sick, the hungry, and the dying through thousands of people that are more passionate about the issue than you are.

Third: Tim Tebow has spent a good portion of his free time (especially in the summers) ministering to the poor in the Philippines - more specifically, helping build orphanages, hospitals, and churches in the area. Why isn’t he doing it now then? Because through the NFL he’s able to fund the Tim Tebow Foundation and do more of God’s work than he could on his own. Not to mention he’s made John 3:16 one of the hottest search terms more than once. I think it’s safe to say that God’s using Tebow’s life powerfully for the sake of His glory.

To Christians against Tim Tebow:

Being a christian was never cool. Even though our country was founded on christian morals and religious freedom, the public will not see the Gospel message as cool, palatable, or even nice to hear. Why? Because nobody likes to hear that they’re a bad person and that they need someone to save them. So if you have a relationship with Jesus, it should not be in your interest to “keep the peace” or “try not to make anyone feel uncomfortable” when people’s eternal destinies are at stake. I say this knowing that I need to believe thismuch more than I do currently.

Above all else though, the reason why you should like Tim Tebow is because no matter what the score is for the Broncos vs. Patriots game, I know what his postgame speech will be.

He’ll humbly thank His Lord and Savior.

He’ll humbly thank his teammates and coaches.

And he’ll get right back to work without having done a single bad thing to you personally as you criticize his life.