I personally am FOR Tebow.. as i know most of us are.
But…..
I know he is going to let us down.
I am aware of the fact that he is a human.. like all of us… born into sin.. like all of us… and forgiven because of the blood that Jesus shed on the cross… like all of us.
But what i fear, and is happening, is that people are putting him on a pedestal where they believe that if God is on his side that he will never lose, never mess up.. that since he is a Christian that he will never curse, never lie, never have lustful thoughts OR act on those thoughts. That these people will be the first to persecute and put him down when these things most likely WILL happen. Maybe not all of them… or maybe not any of the ones that i listed, but i know that somehow or someway he will fail… It is how humans are. I believe that Christians and non-Christians are waiting, in anticipation, for him to fail.. whether they say they are or not. Like people who go to a race- they aren't there to watch the cars drive circle after circle, they are really there to see a good crash.
We will crash. We will fail. We are sinners.
We thrive on others failure because sometimes it makes us think that maybe WE aren't so bad.
I shared a scripture on Facebook yesterday about a verse that God was speaking to me at that moment. Isaiah 55:8 "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts." says the Lord. "and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine"
And, though i know he was only kidding, a friend of mine wrote underneath "too bad He lost to the patriots on Sunday." What?! It really kind of put things in perspective. Are people out there actually believing that Tebow is God. Have they forgotten that He is human and that maybe (like usual) God's plan is WAY different than the way we envision it? I know we would normally think, ok-in a perfect world God's plan is for Tebow to win every game because he is good and right and believes in God. In WHAT WORLD has God ever worked that way. C'mon we're talking about a Father that sent His son into the world to save us in the LOWLIEST way ever. As a human (already a rotten start) baby, fully dependent on others, born in a manger, from a small town who really wouldn't otherwise become much of anything. (MERRY CHRISTMAS!!) OUR GOD is full of surprises and, like the verse above says, his ways are far beyond anything we can imagine. I know the way God will use Tebow is going to exceed everyone's expectations. I'm sure it will surprise most of us.. because God's plan isn't to win games.. it's to win people for eternal salvation. Tebow giving God the glory when he wins AND when he loses is what will start changing hearts. God wants us to give Him all the glory and all the praises when we are in the darkest of moments, when we don't think we can hold on by ourselves any longer. Why would God always give us everything we wanted? He knows that in our weakest moments is when we need to rely on Him the most. In Romans 5:3 it says "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation." Through are problems, through our trials are the exact moments that God is refining us to become more Christ-like.. building our character to be more of a reflection of Jesus. 1 Peter 1:6 "So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold- though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when our faith remains strong through many trials it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world."
I am SO excited for Tebow. The fact that He is publicly declaring His love for the Lord.. even through the trials even through the persecution. (yes i definitely believe he is being persecuted for his faith..) I also rejoice in knowing that, as it says in Philippians 1:29 "For you have been given not only the privilege of trusting in Christ but also the privilege of suffering for Him" He has been given opportunity to suffer for the name of Jesus.. SO GOOD!
I also pray for him because i know that people wont understand.. people who haven't been whacked with the Holy Spirit don't really get what the gospel is all about. They don't realize that we will always be sinners.. that we will always fall short (including you, me, and Tebow…). We should be punished with death. In Romans 3:23 he states "For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet God with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when the believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood." WE ARE RIGHTEOUS IN GOD'S EYES. Not because of anything we did.. but because of what HE did. Not because we are sinless or good.. but because He is PERFECT and LOVES us. It says we are made right with God.. meaning we are still sinners but our debt has been paid the only way it can be.. by the blood of a sinless man who is also holy with the blood of our father- JESUS. This is the only way we are saved.. by acknowledging that we are imperfect and we need Jesus to step in our place and pay the penalty. What an amazing God we serve.
I pray this over Tim Tebow and hope you do as well.. and pray more and more Christians will be standing up for their faith no matter what the "world" thinks.
2 Thessalonians 1:11 "So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do. Then the name of our Lord Jesus will be honored because of the way you live, and you will be honored along with him. This is all made possible because of the grace of our God and our Lord Jesus Christ."
