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Labels and the Christian faith

Everywhere you look, someone is wearing or showing their brand. We pay extra for “designer” clothing. The brands come and go in fashion, but most of us have worn someone’s brand, or another’s, over the years. 

We wear advertising logos. I struggle with that. Shouldn’t they be paying me to advertise for them, instead of having me pay extra for the “right” to advertise for them? Perhaps all of us who don’t fit a given brand’s target audience should lobby them to pay us not to wear their clothing or use their products. But I digress.

As Christians, we often wear our brands. We identify ourselves based on the denomination, sect or non-denominational group we belong to. When asked about our faith, we’ll say things like “Oh, I’m a First Churchian.”

That’s a double problem. Firstly, Christianity isn’t about religion. It’s about relationships, specifically the personal relationship between an individual and Jesus Christ. It has nothing to do with “religion” except as a secondary thing. It’s faith that matters.

Christ spoke harshly to those who put their traditions above His Word.

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”  Mark 7:6-8  ESV

Secondly, no matter what you think of denominations, there is only one church. Your denominational leaders are wrong if they teach that their expression of the Christian faith is the only way. Jesus is the only way. He’s the only name by which we’re saved. Salvation doesn’t come from belonging to a specific denomination.

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Romans 12:4-5 ESV

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12 ESV

In case you’ve never been told, there will be believers from other denominations in heaven. Yours won’t be the only one. Seeing some people in heaven will shock you. The only requirement to get in is acceptance of Jesus Christ as Savior. We’ll be astounded by who will be there and who won’t.

I’m not suggesting that every group has everything right.  I’m not saying doctrinal and practice differences don’t matter. I’m saying that the entry point is what we do with Jesus. You can have that right and get most other things wrong.

If you must wear a “brand name”, wear the name follower of Jesus Christ. Declare it when asked. Wear it so that it shows in your dealings with others. Wear it in all you do so that people know you are His even before they ask.

Until next time may the brand that people see in your life be “sinner saved by the grace of the Living God.”

Be Blessed

Kevin

SUMMARY

The label we wear isn’t what saves us; Jesus is the only way. May the brand people see in your life be “sinner saved by the grace of the Living God.”

TAKEAWAY

Christianity isn’t about religion. It’s about a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and He spoke harshly to those who put their traditions above His Word.

There’s only one church, and the entry point is what we do with Jesus. We’ll be astounded by who will be in heaven and who won’t.

If you must wear a brand name, wear the name follower of Jesus Christ. Wear it in all you do so people know you are His even before they ask.

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Loving one another even when we disagree

The white-breasted nuthatch and its close cousins, the red-breasted nuthatch and the pygmy nuthatch, are some of my favorite birds.  What I enjoy most about them is their ability to walk up and down tree trunks headfirst.

Ornithological experts say that they don’t actually walk down tree trunks. Instead, they hang by their toes in a particular way that makes it look like they’re walking. That may be, but to me, nuthatches can walk down a tree trunk headfirst

Nuthatches are friendly. Not frightened at all by people, they will come quite close to you if you stay still. Nuthatches are social birds. I quite often see them feeding with flocks of chickadees or other birds. Their call is an easily recognized “Kvaak”. They are prolific singers with various combinations of five or six kvaaks..

Being the “wrong way around” doesn’t seem to bother nuthatches in the least. They are quite comfortable having the world upside down. Our entire world is upside down. 

The things the world values the most will be burned up one day. The values the world promotes are typically contrary to the values that God advocates. 

When I was a non-believer, I often felt that Christians did not live in the real world. Their values and priorities were often the polar opposites of what I saw around me. It made no sense. I have since come to understand that the Christian world is the real world.

 This upside-down phase of living is something temporary brought about by sin. On the sixth day of creation, God saw what He had done and called it very good. It has been in a state of deterioration ever since. A time will come when He wipes the slate clean and restores the world to its perfect state. This fallen world claims that power, possessions, position, and prestige are blessings and laudable goals. 

Contrast that with what the Apostle Paul wrote. 

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV

and then, later in the same chapter, 

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV

None of us are perfect in our faith walk. All of us will succumb to the ways of the world at times. Still, we are clearly called to live differently from the world. We are to walk in the world but not of it. 

People will mock you, even hate you for walking a different way than they do. Their spirit is blinded, but the Holy Spirit in us still reminds them that something isn’t quite right in the world. Being intentionally blind, they don’t want to be reminded. When you struggle to see which way is up, look to the Word for guidance, then walk in the ways of Jesus. 

Those around you may be going in a different direction, but Christ’s path is the true way. Until He comes again, may we encourage one another to walk “upside down” in the Spirit’s power. 

Be blessed

Kevin

SUMMARY

This world has its values upside down, but Christ’s path is the true way. Let’s encourage one another to walk “upside down” in the Spirit’s power.

TAKEAWAY

The things this world values most, power, possessions, position, and prestige, will be burned up one day, and they often run opposite to what God values.

Paul calls us to walk with humility, gentleness, patience, and love, putting off the old self and putting on the new.

When others mock the way you walk, or you struggle to see which way is up, look to the Word and walk in the ways of Jesus.

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