Former NFL quarterback Tim Tebow’s latest challenge for his followers? Put compassion into action.
“We live in a society that’s so easy to seek and choose and want comfort, to want security. We are called not just to have sympathy or empathy, but we are called to have compassion, to care so much for someone you’re willing to suffer with them,” he explained on the Dr. Josh Axe Show.
“A lot of times, people don’t really always like that because it makes us uncomfortable,” the Heisman trophy winner continued. “If we leave and we walk down the street, you could see someone that is hurting or someone that is homeless, and we could have sympathy or empathy. But you could have that on the other side of the street. Compassion is up close and personal.”
On Instagram, Tebow explained that “The greek word for compassion means to be moved from your most inward parts.”
“It’s the same word Scripture uses to describe how Jesus responded to people who were hurting,” he said.
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“That’s not comfortable. It’s not supposed to be,” Tebow added, before asking, “Where have you been feeling from a distance instead of showing up?”
Tebow understands what it means to actually show up for people, especially the most vulnerable. Right now, he and his team at the Tim Tebow Foundation are fighting the child exploitation crisis in America, a purpose that he was called to at a young age.
“One of the greatest calls on my life is to fight for people that can’t fight for themselves,” Tebow said on Instagram. “When I was 15 and in the jungles of the Philippines…I met a boy who was born with his feet on backwards. He was a throwaway to his village. But I knew that day he wasn’t a throwaway to God. I probably haven’t done it very well, but I’ve known that I was supposed to fight for boys and girls, men and women, hurting people all around the world that were viewed as less than. Because to God, nobody is.”
That is why the former quarterback founded the Tim Tebow Foundation.
“Our heart at @timtebowfoundation is to fight for the Most Vulnerable People, the MVP — those who have been viewed as less than, insignificant or cursed, who have been thrown away, abandoned, trafficked or orphaned, or are in need of life-changing medical intervention,” he wrote in the caption of the post. “Just as every life is valuable to God, every life is valuable to us at TTF.”
“In Ephesians 2:10, it says that we are ‘…created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,’” Tebow explained. “At TTF, we believe that each one of us has not only been saved from something but that we have also been saved for something. If you believe you are called to fight alongside TTF, if your heart aches for the hurting people around the world, we invite you to answer the call and join our mission to fight for the MVP — the Most Vulnerable People around the world.”
Let’s follow Tebow’s lead and live out Christ’s love towards others.
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