How funny! A recent survey just revealed that more people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials than the game. Come to think of it, I've seen some fairly boring Super Bowl games, but the commercials were interesting.
No commercial stirred up more pre-game buzz this year than the one sponsored by Focus on the Family. It featured college football superstar, Tim Tebow, and his mom, talking about her decision to keep a baby she could have aborted - Tim, to be specific. He grew up to be one of the few sophomores to ever win the coveted Heisman Trophy, awarded to the man voted America's best college football player. And he's an amazing role model for guys across the country.
Even if you're not much for football, you had to take notice of the black under his eyes during each game. It was always the reference of a favorite Bible verse. One week, for example, it said John under one eye and 3:16 under the other. Since he was the quarterback for one of America's top-ranked teams, the camera was on him a lot each game.
The week after Tim's "John 3:16" game, that Bible reference was one of the most sought-after searches on Google. Millions of people read for themselves that "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Tim is a football player who knows why he is where he is; not primarily to win football games - which he did - but to point people to his Jesus.
Tim Tebow gets it! "We are Christ's ambassadors" (2 Corinthians 5:20). All of us who belong to Jesus are assigned by Him - divinely positioned by Him - to help people we influence be in heaven with us someday.
I guess you can live your whole life as a Christian and miss the point. But when you do, people may miss Jesus...and heaven. Because "whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12).
Everyday living gets a lot more exciting when you realize God's amazing purposes in making you the person you are, placing you where you are. He has biographically credentialed each of us, and divinely positioned us to point people around us to Jesus. Suddenly, your everyday isn't everyday anymore. You wake up in the morning knowing you're Jesus' personal representative to people God's assigned you to. And you pray for, and look for divine opportunities to show and tell the difference Jesus makes.
You don't have to wear Bible-verse eye black to do what He put you there to do. Just know your mission and go for it when He opens a door. He's doing it all the time.