The latest Christian craze is centered on the starting quarterback of the Denver Broncos, Tim Tebow. The son of baptist missionaries, Tebow brought his faith to light in the public sports arena by kneeling in prayer (caught on camera) and sporting decorative eye black (the black stuff rubbed under the player’s eyes) that displayed Christian messages or Bible verse numbers.

It’s not unusual for Christian athletes (or athletes who are Christian) to thank God for their touchdown, soccer goal, prize fight knockout or basketball win. But this thing is really taking hold.  Maybe it’s because the Broncos, who hadn’t been doing so well, turned their games around after Tebow started playing regularly.  He was their talisman.  God was on their side?

As for Tim, I saw a televised interview, in which he came across as a humble young man who just wanted to express his faith, not necessarily drawing attention to himself.  But that’s just what he got. Attention.  So much so that his Tebow-isms became fodder for sports writers, late-night comedy, Twitter and Facebook.

So what do you think?  Is it okay, even encouraging, that you pray in public and wear Jesus on your sleeve?  Didn’t Jesus teach us to pray in private (Matthew 6:6)?  For the record, Jesus prayed a lot in private, but occasionally uttered a public prayer.  He gave thanks for food (Luke 9:16) and even made a point of wanting the people to hear him talk to his Father when he raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:42).

I know that we’re not supposed to be ashamed of our Christian faith (Romans 1:16), but is it really necessary to pray out loud for your food in a restaurant? I’ve done so and have been approached, at times, by others at nearby tables who want to compliment our family/group on the boldness of our faith. But, seriously, doesn’t that just boost my ego?  ”Oh, don’t thank me; God gets all the credit.”

And what about kneeling in the end zone?  ”Thank you, Lord, for giving me this touchdown?”  ”Thank you, Lord, that I didn’t get mangled?”  What about the other Christians on both teams?  Did they not win because their faith wasn’t strong enough?  I don’t have the answer.  I’m just asking.

Jesus gave us two commands:  Love God.  Love your neighbor.  We can say that we love.  We can pray for love.  We can teach about love.  But until we DO love, until we SHOW love, then no amount of Christian advertising is going to make a difference.