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by Ethan Park

The buzz around the NFL this year has been predominately about Tim Tebow, an unorthodox NFL quarterback for the Denver Broncos, who started for the team in their last 11 games, posting 7 wins, most of them miraculous comebacks. A college phenom, he was doubted by the professional scouts that he would not be a successful quarterback, and grasped international attention with an unorthodox NFL quarterback skill set, ability to help his team win, and… his demonstration of his faith.

Religious displays in the NFL are not new. Most players will point fingers to the sky, giving thanks to God after touchdowns. Some talk about their faith. But for some reason, Tim Tebow’s displays look genuine.

After an improbable upset over the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first playoff game with a dramatic overtime finish, Tim Tebow answered questions from the media with the following:

“I am just so blessed to have an opportunity to be the quarterback for the Denver Broncos and play games in front of such great fans with great teammates and I’m just very thankful for the platform that God has given me… I felt like we had a great week of practice and we practiced hard and had a great game plan and we knew that we were playing a very good Pittsburgh Steelers team. I was very glad that we were able to get the win. First and foremost, I’d like to thank my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ he’s done so much in my life and I also want to thank my teammates for the efforts they put out there and just showing so much character whether it’s good whether it’s bad all year and our coaches who constantly every game whether I’m doing good or bad just stick with me so I’m very appreciative of that.”

Soon after, a reporter asked this question: I know you have a faith in God, but do you have a sense of the kind of phenomenon you are nationwide?

“You know, I’m just very thankful for the platform God has given me and the opportunity to be a quarterback for the Denver Broncos, what a great organization. It is special to have the platform of playing football, as I have an opportunity to affect people. I was very excited to have Bailey Knaub here at this game. Football is amazing, we love it, we’re so passionate about it as you can see there but the real win, at least as far as I’m concerned, was being able to comfort a girl who’s gone through 73 surgeries before this game. I get a chance to go hang out with her now and that’s the biggest win of the day and so they’re both exciting but that’s what I’m even more proud of.”

In our view of work, there’s much to learn from Tim Tebow.

1) Whether we are called to become an NFL quarterback or an assistant at a bank, we should see our job as worship to God.

Tim Tebow is by far not an ideal quarterback. Stats like 2 completions on 8 attempts in a game doesn’t bring much confidence in his abilities. But, when he plays, he plays with passion for the game. His coaches love his work ethic and his poise. His teammates believe in him and follow him because of what he stands for. He believes that he’s called to play football right now and he plays football like he believes it. That’s what we are called to do. God calls us, in his mysterious wisdom, to work in this world as agents of His common grace to this world. Tim Tebow understands that.

2) God is more important than our performance. Kingdom matters are far more important than success in our job.

When Tim Tebow plays, he plays differently. He helps his opposing players up after hard tackles. He prays on the sidelines when others would be studying the next plays. In his attitude and action, he applies Kingdom principles, God’s moral standards, and the Gospel in what he does. He never sees himself as better than others. In the team’s wins, he gave all of the glory to his teammates, coaches, and God. In his losses, he took responsibility, and moved on. Often, we are too far concerned with the performance of our job. Likewise, our faith should triumph over achieving success in our job. We are in the habit of pursuing success while ignoring our faith when, in fact, we should look for opportunities to display our faith at the expense of our success.

by Ethan Park

I picked up a terrible habit in my early days of banking. On most conference calls, we would mute our microphones and incessantly make fun of the parties on the other side of the line. We would pick out all the foolish things they said. I remember the nicknames we had for the bankers, fund managers, CEOs and CFOs. They were not nice. 

Conference calls weren’t the only times when we spoke ill of people behind their backs. We speak ill of our colleagues, superiors and subordinates. Emails with subjects “<no subject>” or cryptic “PRIVATE: NSFW” are often filled with one liners, making fun of what just happened in the office. Often, gossiping becomes the foundation of office friendships. We gossip in the office and out of the office. 

We gossip for so many reasons. Sometimes, it’s for our own image. We want to be the funny person or the quick, witty person. Sometimes we gossip because of hatred for someone. We want to bring down their reputation. Sometimes it’s to be understood; we seek justice and vindication by speaking ill of the person that hurt our ego.

We struggle for our appearance and reputation on a daily basis in our workplace. We have an image of how we yearn to be perceived. Often we end up being dishonest about ourselves, trying to be someone that we are not called to be. Our reputation is so important to us because we think that we can attain righteousness or acceptance by being the person we want to be.

Gossiping is sin because when we gossip, we try to build up our self-righteousness by tearing down someone else’s and building our own reputation. By gossiping, we reject the Gospel by taking control of building our own righteousness.  The Gospel puts an end to our need for gossiping. We are to accept our place as a sinner, who has been redeemed by Jesus and His blood alone. When opportunities arise for gossip, we refrain from it because the subject of the gossip is also a broken person in need of Christ. We don’t gossip because we don’t need to build up our righteousness by tearing others down. When others gossip about us, we don’t defend ourselves, because we are sinners whose righteousness has been fully obtained by Christ’s death alone. Our personal dignity is sustained by grace, not by our defence.

 Next time you face opportunities for gossip, consider the Gospel. We, the undeserved heirs of the God Almighty, do not need to struggle for our own righteousness—Jesus is our righteousness.

Please join us for a casual lunch get together at the Marche, in BCE place, on the 15th of November.  Come to meet other Grace Toronto people working in the business sector and enjoy some good discussion on living as Christians in ‘Business Toronto’.

Faith & Work will be in one of the private rooms off the main dining area.  Kindly RSVP to Jordan Mayes, so we have an idea of the numbers.

Where: Marche, at BCE Place (Wellington St. W. / Yonge St.) – ask for Jordan Mayes
When: Tuesday November 15th 2011 at 12:00pm

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