Former football star Tim Tebow shared a powerful story about how God used the game of football to get millions of people to look up and read John 3:16.

Most people are incredibly familiar with the Bible verse John 3:16 and can recite it with relative ease. While it’s the most famous verse in the Bible, it’s also, without question, the most important. The words in that verse are the foundation for everything else in the Bible. Without John 3:16, nothing else in the Bible matters.

In a clip posted on social media, Tim gives a presentation in which he talks about his playing football days at the University of Florida and later in the NFL. Tim mentions how God used a simple, seemingly insignificant move to introduce millions to Jesus Christ and John 3:16. It’s a story that shows the unbelievable power of God.

Football players commonly wear black anti-glare strips under their eyes. These strips are intended to help players see better while on the field. Recently, some players have started writing messages in the strips. When he was a quarterback at the University of Florida, Tim began writing “Phil 4:13,” also a popular Bible verse, on his strips.

However, one year, right before Florida was about to play in the national championship game, Tim started getting a prodding and a feeling from God that he needed to change up the verse. So, instead of Philippians 4:13, he wrote “John 3:16” underneath his eyes.

Then, two days after the game, he learned God used that one change to do something amazing! The news came in the form of a phone call to then Florida’s football coach, Urban Meyer.  Tim learned that more than 90 million people Googled “John 3:16” because they saw it under his eyes during the game. 

Three years later to the day, when Tim was now playing in the NFL, God did something very similar, introducing millions of people to that all-important verse: John 3:16.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”