SNL did a hilarious Denver Broncos locker room skit a while back, you can click on it below. Here are a few thoughts about Tim Tebow\u2026\n
\u00a0Does God really care about sports?<\/p>\n
Does God get involved in sporting events when people pray for a win\u2026 people who are participating, watching on TV, or who have a little bit of cash riding on the game? I read an interesting FaceBook exchange the other day from a teenage girl who was claiming that Denver was winning because God was willing them to win in order to vindicate the faith of Tim Tebow. I really hope that is not true, and I don\u2019t believe it is. First of all, Tebow\u2019s faith does not need vindication. All evidence points to the reality that Tim Tebow is a sincere Christ follower and that\u2019s a good thing. Second, what about all of the sincere Christ followers who were on the other side playing in the game or praying for a win?<\/p>\n
\u00a0I will admit, I don\u2019t pray asking God to help my sports team win. I will also admit that when I see an athlete after a game saying that God is the one they need to thank for winning, it grosses me out a little bit. As a Christian I believe that God sustains every single breath I take; that God holds the universe together from the level of astrophysics to quantum material. If we took the Tebow mentality we\u2019d have to spend every moment saying thank you for that last breath, and for holding us together, & it would be impossible to get things done. I don\u2019t think God gets involved in the outcome of sports contests \u2013 but what do I know? My hunch is that much of the Tebow phenomenon is really the practice of magic. He prays for the field goal to go through, promising to give God the glory in his post-game interview. It works, they win, he does\u2026 that\u2019s not faith, that\u2019s conjury.<\/p>\n
\u00a0I watched this short documentary on ESPN last night walking through the Broncos\/Patriots game where Tebow was mic\u2019d up the whole game. Just before the final drive he was sitting on the bench singing, \u201cLord, I lift your name on high.\u201d It\u2019s a fine song \u2013 a bit old I\u2019ll admit \u2013 but whatever. I realized he was simply using it as a meditation tool to stay calm and relaxed before he went back into the game. I don\u2019t think we should have a problem with that. I meditate with the Jesus prayer, an Eastern Orthodox Prayer which goes, \u201cLord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.\u201d You say the first phrase as you breathe in, the second phrase as you breathe out. It\u2019s like breathing in the presence of God & breathing out our brokenness. For me it\u2019s a cool contemplative practice gleaned from the mystics centuries ago that I have adopted as a means of constant prayer. I say this prayer several hundred times a day. I say it alone in the car, when I wake up in the middle of the night, when I\u2019m waiting in line at the grocery story \u2013 it is where my consciousness goes when I\u2019m at rest. But I bet it would gross people out if they knew about it, so I keep it private.<\/p>\n
So Tebow goes to bad 1990\u2019s worship songs? It\u2019s essentially the same thing. The problem comes when he does it while he\u2019s mic\u2019d up on national TV. Or is it a problem? I don\u2019t know for sure, but I do know Matthew warns us, \u201cBe careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them\u2026 do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing\u2026 And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in synagogues, and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.\u201d So I wonder if the SNL skit has a little more truth to it in that regard. Maybe Jesus would say, \u201cTake it down a notch, will ya buddy?\u201d<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=WQ6vat1DIRI?version=3<\/a><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SNL did a hilarious Denver Broncos locker room skit a while back, you can click on it below. Here are a few thoughts about Tim Tebow\u2026 \u00a0Does God really care about sports? Does God get involved in sporting events when people pray for a win\u2026 people who are participating, watching on TV, or who have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1118,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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