Allow me to explain.
I read this article detailing Tim Tebow’s recent speech at Liberty University and I came across this one line:
“In the end, football is just a silly game. Greatness comes from serving.”
Is it possible to say “Amen” and outwardly sigh at the same time? If so, that’s what I did when I read this quote.
Before I go any further, I must acknowledge my own ignorance when addressing this quote. I don’t know the greater context in which it was uttered. Nonetheless, I think you’ll see my perspective stands up.
On the one hand, I fully affirm that true greatness does not come directly from football. Tebow is right to point this out given how prone we all are to make sports an idol. Undoubtedly, his inspiration for saying this comes from Luke 22:24-27 and Mark 10:45. Amen to all of that.
Where I disagree is where Tebow says that football is just a silly game. Tebow does a disservice to the intersection of sports and Christianity when he says this. As I’ve written before, when you say something like this, it creates a false dichotomy. Behind that saying is a belief that says, “Some things are important and some things are not. Football is not important.” God tells us a different story though. In 1 Corinthians 31, it says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Football is important because it can be done for the glory of God, just like anything else. Using this above statement lowers the bar for sports and competition. People don’t need a lower view of sports, they need a higher one!
One of the reasons Christians have such a disconnect between their faith and their sports playing is because of this very notion. We think to ourselves, God doesn’t really care about the sport, he cares about what I do outside of the sport. It’s not true, don’t believe it!
I like Tim Tebow, I do. I like a lot of what he has to say. Maybe I took the above quote out of context. Maybe he does believe football is important to His Christian walk. Even if he does, the mentality I espouse above very much exists in the Christian sports world. It’s dangerous and I hope this blog points that out.
