Tebow

I was thinking the other day about the people who are jumping on Tim Tebow's case about how obvious he is about his faith. He's too zealous. He's too outspoken. He's whatever happens to annoy a given person. The thing that gets me, is that most of the negative comments I hear are from Christians. And while I don't think I'm going to start Tebowing (taking a knee and praying as a celebration) every time I get the chance, I am not going to tell him to demonstrated his faith any differently just because I don't always care for his style.
Before any of us criticize, we should check our motives first. Do we criticize Tebow's outspokenness because he does too much or because we do too little? Do we poke fun at his post touchdown prayer simply because it's something we'd never do?
When I was thinking about this I was reminded of a story from 2 Samuel 6 about David's wife Michal.
Michal was watching from the window of her house as David was in the street dancing before God, celebrating the Ark of the Covenant's return. Michal was embarrassed because David, who was the king, was dancing so foolishly around in public, striped of his royal cloths. The bible says she held him in contempt for his shameless worship.
And When David returned home Michal confronted him and said sarcastically, "How distinguished the king looked today, shamelessly exposing himself before the servant girls as any vulgar person might do ...."
And David said, "I was dancing for the Lord...yes I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!"

Every man is different. Every man's faith and beliefs are different. Every man has his own style of demonstrating what he believes. We all need to realize this and not be like Michal, who because of fear of ridicule chose to hold in contempt a demonstration of a beautiful relationship with God. She was more afraid of what others would think of her husband dancing shamelessly than how pleasing his act of worship was to God.
I feel the same way about Tebow. While I may not be as outspoken about my faith, I will not condemn him for being too much. We can never give God too much and we can never worship or demonstrate too much if our hearts are in the right place with God. Sure it may look ridiculous to some, it might even seem crazy to some, but to God it is beautiful, and I have no right to call what God deems beautiful anything less.
It's obvious to me that Tim Tebow has decided to be like David and be willing to do whatever his faith prompts him to do even to the point of looking foolish in the eyes of others. Yes, he could dial it down, or he could be less outspoken, but why would we ever want that?
James 4:17 says "It is a sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it."
What if being an outspoken Christian is what Tebow feels he ought to do? For him not to follow what he knows is right because it would save him from ridicule would be a sin. And I for one don't want to cause a brother in Christ to stumble. Yes, he's outspoken, but because of him, thousands of people have heard about Christ. Yes, he's zealous, but because of him many have taken notice of what it's like to have a relationship with Christ. While I may not take the same action, I will applaud the fact that they are actions for the glory of my Lord.

"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord."
1 Corinthians 12:4-5