Standing in the gap

Here's an interesting op-ed in the NYT whose author really gets to the heart of the Tebow phenomonon:

But let’s be unsophisticated for a moment. Why is Tim Tebow such a fascinating and polarizing figure? Not just because he claims to be religious; that claim is commonplace among football stars and ordinary Americans alike. Rather, it’s because his conduct — kind, charitable, chaste, guileless — seems to actually vindicate his claim to be in possession of a life-altering truth.

Nothing discredits religion quite like the gap that often yawns between what believers profess and how they live. With Tebow, that gap seems so narrow as to be invisible. (“There’s not an ounce of artifice or phoniness or Hollywood in this kid Tebow,” ESPN’s Rick Reilly wrote last year of the quarterback’s charitable works, “and I’ve looked everywhere for it.”) He fascinates, in part, because he behaves — at least in public, and at least for now — the way one would expect more Christians to behave if their faith were really true.

I'm not much of a football fan, and can't judge how good a player Tim really is. In the end, as with all of our talents and abilities, it doesn't really matter. What is of eternal value is who we are, whether our character is conforming to the character of the Christ we claim as savior.

In that game, it appears Tim Tebow is an all-star.