Fruit - Yes, Fruit!

On the heels of a very trying week it can be hard to find God at work. But if we look with an open heart, we’ll discover there really is good in this world.

This morning, while comparing stories on FOX, CNN, Sports Illustrated and Breitbart among others, I came across another article about Tim Tebow. This time he stepped onto the baseball diamond and stood with a fan singing God Bless America. This comes on the heels of a story describing Tebow’s choice to shake hands with an autistic boy before nailing a 3-run homer.

Now Tim Tebow has plenty of critics among sports fans and people in general. And why not? Tim Tebow himself is humble enough to admit his play has flaws. That’s why he works so hard at being better at everything and it’s why Tim is a good example of how the Fruits of the Spirit can show in reality. Galatians 5:22-24 lists the Fruits of the Spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”

Now contrast Tim Tebow with Colin Kapernick. Both are internationally-recognized sports personalities and each is passionate about his cause. However, each has chosen a distinct way to represent his cause that is light years different from the other.

At first, I wasn’t a fan of Tebow. I can’t tell you why, other than he came from Florida and I’m a WVU fan, but something about his happy-go-lucky attitude just rubbed me wrong. But one day, without even realizing it, I started liking him. I started respecting what he could do with a football, and I started defending his right to “Tebow” after a play. We even took pictures in Afghanistan with a group of us “Tebow’ing” in Kabul. I’ll stop short of saying it offended me when critics tried to silence the post-play kneel-and-point, but it did annoy me that the negative focus was on his faith, not his play. Maybe that’s when the reality of it all hit me. Without preaching, without selling, without even asking, Tim Tebow had reached millions of people across the globe and his message wasn’t about how good a football player Tim Tebow was. It was about how good his God was.

Tim Tebow, with all his promise and opportunity to be ego-centric, walks in faith and displays the Fruits of the Spirit.

So if Tim can do it with all the pressure and attention and negative influence around his very public persona, can’t anyone?

“the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” 1 John 2:6