In a recent appearance on Dr. Jordan Peterson’s podcast, former football star Tim Tebow answered questions about masculinity and winning while steering the conversation toward Christian service and humility.
Tebow’s life and message seemed to fascinate Peterson, a Canadian psychologist who has said Western culture unfairly assaults masculinity as toxic. Peterson, who is conservative but doesn’t identify as a Christian, often talks to leaders about the role of churches and fathers.
As he did throughout his athletic career, Tebow openly shared his faith and Scripture verses on the podcast. The Heisman Trophy winner, football analyst, philanthropist, and soon-to-be first-time father spoke with Peterson about the challenges of worldly success and the benefits of being vulnerable and selfless.
Tim Tebow on Fighting for People in Need
While introducing the conversation, Peterson said culture’s equation of male dominance with “patriarchal oppressiveness” is “wrong in a deadly way because it demoralizes young men.”
The commentator described Tebow, 37, as someone who “figured out how to take that competitive striving and that desire for excellence and that hatred of losing and to transmute it into a form of high-level motivation” that went beyond “the good of winning.”
Peterson told Tebow he was impressed by the “breadth” of the athlete’s foundation, launched back in 2010. Tebow, the son of missionaries, recalled being inspired at age 15 by Sherwin, a Filipino boy “born with his feet on backwards.”
Although villagers viewed disabilities as a curse, young Tebow literally embraced Sherwin and talked to him and his friends about God’s love. Through that encounter, God steered Tebow to “fight for people [who] couldn’t fight for themselves.”
The two-time college national champion and a national championship MVP said he’d always tried to be “the best” because he hated losing. “But God pricked my heart…and said, ‘I have a more important MVP for you to chase,’” Tebow told Peterson. “It’s not the Most Valuable Player. It’s the Most Vulnerable People, because they’re worth far more than some other MVP [award].”
The Value of Humility and Loss
Peterson, who often uses biblical references, spoke about the “Christian revolution” of the last being first, calling that “a complete redefinition of what constitutes sovereignty.” Referring to Sherwin, Peterson noted that Tebow’s life was changed through “a direct encounter with someone who was the opposite of what you were celebrated for.”
