I’ve been getting into a lot of hot water lately over my views on Tim Tebow’s act of “Tebowing.”  For those of you who aren’t American football fans, Tim Tebow is an outspoken Christian who is the talented starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos.  He routinely gets down on one knee for all to see, before, during, and after games, to thank Jesus or simply to acknowledge Him.  This practice has come to be known as “Tebowing” which is “to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around you is doing something completely different.”

As somebody who is not a football fan (and yet still quite secure in my masculinity) I don’t get all goosebumpy about sports personalities.  So when I learned of Tebowing I was actually put off by it to some degree because the first thought that came to mind was Jesus words in Matthew 6 about not praying as the hypocrites do, making a big display of it out in public out of their love to be seen by the people.  Jesus certainly wasn’t laying down some new law that says, “Thou shalt never pray in public.”  But He was getting to the heart of what prayer really is all about…intimacy with Father.  This isn’t about rules, it’s about missing God’s heart.  Father is ever so personal.  But when we make a big display of conversing with Him I think we actually work against what may be the goal – to draw people closer to Him.  It creates an image of God as being a showman, proud, into big performances and distant.  Also, it takes the attention off of Father and draws it to ourselves.  (Thus the reason we have the word “Tebowing”)  And then there’s the simple fact I mentioned earlier about Father being ever so intimate with us.  I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable making out with my wife on the floor of a packed stadium.  I’d rather whisper in her ear.  Now I don’t know Tim Tebow so I don’t know his heart so this is no judgment against him.  He may be just so in love with Jesus he can’t contain his excitement and we all have areas where we need to mature.  (Three fingers pointing back at myself!)  So this isn’t an anti-Tebow rant.  But I do want to get to the heart of something here.

As I responded to various posts on Facebook and talked to folks about Tebow and his Tebowing I was amazed at the backlash I received for expressing my opinion.  It was as if I was denying Christ for not embracing Tebow’s public displays of prayer.  Again, nothing against him as a person, he’s probably a really cool person, as are many of the other Christians in the NFL.  I just don’t dig that act.  But what was funny (in a sad way) was as I shared with people my reasons for not being into it I quickly made a discovery. Christian super stars are exempt from Jesus’ words!  One person told me that “…[Tebow] has to acknowledge that God has given him this place, the spotlight, and his talent to bring God glory.”   Hmmm.  I responded to the person by saying, “We can say the same thing about ourselves, so does that mean I should start off each shift at work by getting down on my knees in front of all my coworkers and praying?”  I wonder if the next time I save the news cast by acting quickly to prevent a disaster if I should get down on my knees in the control room?  What a statement for God’s glory that would be! (Gag!)

When I put it in the context of reality, do you see how quickly this becomes ridiculous?  But as I’ve been having these conversations I’ve been noticing that most of the support for Christian super stars engaging in big displays of their faith is rooted in the belief that our job here on Earth is to run a PR (Public Relations) campaign for God.  It’s as if God is running for King of the world and we’ve got to get Him elected.  So we look for people of influence to add weight to our beliefs thus making us feel validated and winning God more support.  As twisted as that may sound, it is not the least bit surprising that this is the point of view most Christians have when you look at how they believe they are supposed to worship Him – in packed auditoriums with spotlights shining on people standing on a stage up front singing, shouting, and preaching eloquently about God.  It’s all about spiritual displays and performances and Jesus is the ultimate super star.  To heed the words of Jesus about this stuff would mean uprooting many accepted and adored traditions.

This stuff reveals such a misunderstanding of who God is.  When God walked among us He came as a lowly and poor carpenter who was born in a cattle stall.  Super star Christianity looks at this and says, “Cool!  Jesus was like Clark Kent waiting to turn into Superman!”   For many, Jesus wasn’t truly humble, he was just building the tension for dramatic purposes before he was going to rip off the disguise and reveal Himself to everybody.  “Ta-da!”  Even those who knew Him and walked with Him were waiting for the big “Ta-da!”  The disciples would ask, “Is this when you’re going to do it?!  Are you going to set up your kingdom now!?”  But to their frustration He never followed through.  That’s because Jesus’ humility wasn’t an act!  It was real, through and through to the core of His being!  God IS humble!  Jesus came in humility, not as a disguise, but because that’s who God is.  He is humble.  It is His very nature, His DNA if you will.  This is why pride can’t connect with Him.  He can’t relate to it.  It’s NOT IN HIM!

Isn’t it interesting that the message of Christ spread across the Roman Empire like wild fire when it was the belief of mostly poor people, the disenfranchised, and slaves?  In fact one of the Creasers even refereed to Christians as being nothing but “women and slaves.”  How did they do it without a single super star?  Well, part of the reason is that in their humility they were already closely connected with Christ because they were a true reflection of Him.  Ain’t hard to see Jesus when He’s standing right in front of you!  Strange that it was when Christianity gained some super stars that it became powerless and was corrupt.

One thing I found very interesting is that my stance of disfavor with the super star displays of prayer has actually drawn people closer to Father than the support of it I’ve seen.  Twice this week I watched people’s jaws drop (one was a professing atheist) as I told them God is not like that and Jesus isn’t into that because God is actually very humble and not into making big displays.  They had never even heard of God being that way.  The god they saw or heard about was arrogant, demanding, forceful and loved to hog the lime light.  I told an atheist friend of mine, “I think God figures the sun, moon, Earth, and stars are a big enough display.”  Suddenly he was pondering the thought that maybe there is a God.  Hmmmm.  Maybe there were some real legitimate reasons why Jesus wasn’t into big public displays.  It’s hard to see a God that’s hidden.

Loren Rosser