Through the years we have seen any number of professional athletes /celebrities give thanks to God or make some public profession of faith at the end of a game or a performance. No one has ever raised the discussion about people publicly professing their faith in God to this level until Tim Tebow began to do it. Now, I have to ask why?

My guess is that unlike Tebow, the private life of many other athletes/ celebs did not consistently reflect that conviction of faith they professed publicly. Therefore, it was easy by unbelievers (including the media) to dismiss such professions of faith as being an act of showmanship or being something cheap and meaningless. However, it appears at this time, that what you have in Tebow is someone who truly strives to live out his faith on and off the field.

One’s consistent convictions of faith are a judgment on those who have cheapened Christianity by their inconsistency as well as being a judgment on unbelievers. Such conviction of faith, when it is real, is frightening because of what it means if those conviction are right. I would not expect nominal Christians — that is, those whose faith is only a matter of convenience rather than conviction — or even unbelievers to admit that they are afraid of a consistent faith. However, Tebow’s detractors are attacking his faith because they fear it. Yet their fear, interestingly enough, evinces a respect for it on some level. People do not fear what they don’t respect!

Herein is a good lesson for NT Christians, and it begins with Romans 14:17-18. Namely, it is not wrong to be liked for righteousness. We need to quit living down our faith and start living it up in everything!

Ouch! I needed that.

–Bill Robinson