A Washington Post reporter, Kent Babb, sent this tweet last Friday night: “In the Pat’s locker room, a cameraman has a mishap and yells, “Jesus Christ!” Tebow, in earshot, looks at the guy and says, “He loves you.” So far Babb’s comment has been “retweeted” more than 3000 times. In fact, Babb sent a later tweet promising that the first tweet was 100% true. If you are a faithful reader of my blog, you know I like Tim Tebow. He is a great young man, a great witness for Christ and I hope he will make a great football comeback this year. (He had some struggles on Friday night.) I really liked his short locker room sermon and I think he offers all of us a great suggestion.
Don’t you just inwardly CRINGE when you hear someone use the name of Jesus as a curse? I still remember the words to the old hymn that says, “There’s just something about that name.” We pray “in the name of Jesus” because he told his disciples, “You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it” (John 14:14). Jesus said those words to his disciples after telling them that he would soon go to heaven and they would then receive the Holy Spirit. When we pray “in Jesus name” we are asking the Holy Spirit to do for us, and through us, what Jesus would lead and empower us to accomplish. There is great power in the name of Jesus. That is why I loved Tim Tebow’s mini sermon in the locker room. He took a curse and turned it into the truth when he said, “He loves you.” We can too.{source}
<div class=”twitter-tweet” style=”float:right;padding-left: 5px;”><blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p>In the Pats locker room, a camera guy has a mishap and yells, "Jesus Christ!" Tebow, in earshot, looks at the guy and says: "He loves you."</p>— Kent Babb (@kentbabb) <a href=”https://twitter.com/kentbabb/statuses/366035258761687040″>August 10, 2013</a></blockquote></div>
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Have you ever noticed that non-Christians use the name of Jesus on a regular basis? Why don’t you ever hear someone shout the name of Buddha, Hare-Krishna, or Muhammad as a curse? Why do people get angry or fearful and react by speaking the name of Jesus Christ? Could it be that deep down they know – “there’s just something about that name”? Maybe Satan is constantly looking for ways to damage or lessen the name of Jesus. If that is the case, Christians should constantly be looking for ways to glorify Christ with our words and actions.
So…why don’t all of us follow the example Tim Tebow set last Friday night? He heard the name of his Lord misused – and turned it into something good. A cameraman heard Tim Tebow tell him that Jesus Christ loves him. A newsman tweeted the incident and now a LOT of people have heard Tebow’s mini-sermon.
The next time I hear someone use the name of the Lord in a wrong way, I am not going to “cringe” – I’m going to speak up too. We can speak the truth in love by saying, “He loves you.” We can smile instead of cringe because truthfully, we have all broken the Commandment and misused the name of the Lord, and we should give the same grace to others that God has shown us.
My thanks to Kent Babb for his tweet! I bet he didn’t know that he was tweeting a sermon that will be preached by thousands in the years to come. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “It is no use walking anywhere to preach, unless we preach as we walk.” Your walk with God will be strengthened if you think about those words and remember – there really is something about that name!
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