I don't follow college football much, but the various ESPN feature clips I've seen of Tebow showed him out with the crowds, sharing the Gospel, proclaiming Christ as Lord... They made me very excited for this young man. But this GQ article portrays Tebow as extremely self-enamored and prideful. He is more worried about his legacy and his sports achievements than he is dedicated to give up his life to Christ.
"When you die," Tebow booms, "there's gonna be a tombstone, and on that tombstone there's gonna be a name, and there's gonna be a date. And for me, it's going to be 1987, and then it's gonna have a dash.… I want that dash to mean something. I want that dash to be special. I want that dash to represent that Tim Tebow finished strong."That's not how most genuine believers talk about life and death. He sounds extremely worldly in that quote. He is more worried about how people will read his tombstone than how God will view his faith. All Christians know that nothing we do matters in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Sure he has a great passion for the game, but the article depicts Tebow as though God were his number one fan, instead of the other way around.
But then there are moments when Tebow is simply good-hearted and genuine. My worry is that, if suddenly God should take away all of his talents, all of his glory, all of his success... who would Tim Tebow be?
Not that I wish that upon him. Never. His football stage does offer him the opportunity to share the Gospel with thousands and thousands of people. But I wonder if he ever pauses to think about that...
"Without all this, who am I?"
2 comments:
I just read this article and I was extremely turned off by it, too. I don't know much about Tebow either, but I do know that when the Lord blesses you, especially as much as He has blessed him, you receive the it humbly and you give Him all of the praise for it. I'm not saying that Tebow isn't sincere in his faith, but I wonder if he's starting to lose sight of who brought him to this point.
Like you said, I wonder what he would do if God chose to take his football career away. If you're a true believer, you have to follow God's will, not your own, and what if God really has something different for his life? You never know, and I wonder if he would be able to give it all up for Him. It's a question worth asking for every believer, not just Tebow, but I hope he would make the right choice if it ever came to that.
One thing I also fear is that Tebow wants to be seen by men, meaning he does these amazing community service because he knows that it's unusual for athletes and knows he'll get recognition. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that's why he does what he does, but I wonder if a temptation to act a certain way because of the attention. As believers we know that Jesus warned us numerous times of giving lip service to Him and not having our hearts in the right place. I just hope that Tim Tebow can keep his heart in the right place and stay focused on Christ.
Thanks Simone for the thoughtful response. I had some of the same thoughts in mind as you did. I believe that there is a great sincerity in Tebow to serve the Lord, but like you, I also believe that he's starting to lose traction on where his focus and attention should be.
It's okay to enjoy the limelight and I don't want to be overly critical because I'm not sure how I would personally handle all the media attention or the stage presence he has, but often in his quotes he talks of God in the ways that God can help Tebow, not in the ways that Tebwo can serve God.
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