But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
-1 Peter 3:15-16
It’s no secret that I love football!
One of my fondest memories growing up was staying up to watch Monday Night Football. Well…the introduction that is. As a child, my parents used to let me stay up just late enough to hear Hank Williams Jr.’s rendition of the Monday Night Football theme song before bedtime.
I used to sit on the floor by the speakers of the television with my Playskool brand tape recorder and record the song in its entirety, play it a couple times, and then sleepily head upstairs. (By the way HERE is the tape recorder on eBay if you have no idea what I’m talking about. The item title says “vintage”…boy do I feel old now!)
It was here on the family room floor that I admired the likes of Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, and one Frank Gifford. An eight-time Pro Bowl player, Gifford was named to the game’s high honor from three different positions: running back, wide receiver, and defensive back, something unheard of in the game today. Despite my admiration from a childhood distance, I knew little about Gifford’s life…until just recently.
Did you have the chance to see Kathie Lee Gifford’s tribute to her late husband on the Today show? If not, you need to take the 9 minutes and watch it below:
In a day in age where watching daytime television or the news floods our homes with violence, political nonsense, and eroding societal values, Kathie Lee moved me to tears with her faithful witness for her and her husband’s faith in Jesus. On national, live television.
All I could think was: Our God’s Not Dead.
You see, you and I are each given four things. And I believe the measure of our lives before our Heavenly Father one day will be what kind of steward we were with these four things.
People
In our lives, we each come into contact with certain people that only we can impact. Our paths cross for a divine reason. Only we can say the right word, or smile at the right time, or offer the right consolation.
Possessions
We each are given things on loan for a period of time. Might be our dwelling, or vehicle, our clothes, or our food. But how we use these things says a great deal about where our faith lies.
Places
We each are put in certain places for certain seasons of life. Where we work, where we live, where we shop, where we work out, where we eat…all of the places our paths take us are opportunities to leave them better than before we arrived.
Platforms
A platform is simply a position of influence that can be used to make a positive difference. In short, it’s our voice. Our credibility. We each have platforms at work, at school, at home, in our communities, at church, and more. When you have a platform, people are watching and listening. And what we share from that platform of influence matters.
1 Peter 3:15-16 outfits us with a simple directive for how to make best use of the people, possessions, places, and platforms in our lives:
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.
When people look to you for support, share your hope in Jesus. When faced with a decision about how to use your possessions, consider what your decision says about your faith in Jesus. When you enter a place God has put in your life, do those there know what you believe about Jesus? And when you seek to use your platform, use it to share what Jesus has done in your life.
Thank you, Kathie Lee, for using your platform to share your faith and for exemplifying how to give the reason for the hope that you have.
Today, Tim is the author of the book Strive, a nationally recognized speaker, and the co-founder of Next Level Performance, which builds leadership and character in student-athletes through the sports they play. Tim and his wife Michelle and son Daniel reside in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
To learn more about Tim and his work, visit timhiller.com or follow him at @timhiller3.
- Lead As You Are: Hope Today from the Pressures to Be Loud, Liked, and Lapse-Free - August 3, 2018
- 10 Things Being an Athlete Taught Me About Leadership - March 20, 2018
- Steady in the Storm - November 7, 2017
