On Saturday, Dec. 12, Concordia University celebrated its more than 1,240 graduates during Virtual Commencement, which featured keynote speaker Tim Tebow.
Tebow claims several notable monikers: two-time national champion, first-round NFL draft pick, Heisman Trophy winner, New York Times Bestselling author, and college football analyst for ESPN. He also proudly identifies as a believer, and that fact shone through in his address to Concordians this past weekend.
Tebow lives out his faith in myriad ways. Several times throughout his life he has returned to the Philippines—where his parents served as missionaries—to spread God’s Word and to do the Lord’s work by serving those in need. In 2010, he established the Tim Tebow Foundation to bring “Faith, Hope, and Love to those needing a brighter day in their darkest hour of need.”
For Concordia’s graduates, he shared his faith through an inspirational message about what it takes to ‘live uncommon.’
Below are just a few sage phrases from his speech. If you’d like to watch the whole address, it’s available on demand now through Jan. 10 at cuw.edu/graduation.
On advice his father gave when he and his brothers were young…
“When you love what you do, and when you’re passionate and you’re willing to sacrifice, you’ll be different, boys. You’ll be unique. You’ll be contagious, and people will want to follow you.”
On the true meaning of passion…
“A lot of times people talk about passion and they put it in the same category as excitement, as motivation, as hype. Passion actually comes from a 12th century Latin word that means to suffer. …When we understand passion, what we really need to understand is that passion means that I care so much about something that I’m going to do it anyways, even if I’m going to suffer.”
On living with passion…
“You can turn your paycheck into ministry. You can turn your success into significance. … If you do that, you are living uncommon.”
On his favorite Bible verses (Ephesians 2:8-10)…
“We’re not saved because we’re special. We’re saved because what He did was special.”
On mimicking God’s agape love…
“The greatest form of love is a choice. It’s the same choice that God made for us. His agape form of love. And the best definition that I’ve ever heard of it is to choose the best interest of another person and act on their behalf.”
On the difference between encouragement and inspiration…
“‘Encouragement.’ It’s a great word and it gives you a really good feeling, but ‘inspire,’ it inspires you to do. Guys, I want you to feel good, but I want you to do good, because there’s a world out there that needs you.”
On living uncommon…
“Know that when we’re serving Jesus, we win. It might not always feel like that. It might not always be easy. And actually, it probably won’t be easy. But it will be worth it. Living uncommon will. be. worth it.”
Want to ‘Live Uncommon’ with Concordia? Apply here.
— This story is written by Kali Thiel, director of university communications for Concordia University Wisconsin and Ann Arbor. She may be reached at kali.thiel@cuw.edu or 262-243-2149.
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