Have we really been reduced to bumper stickers and magnets? Do we need Christian mints, Christian cards, Christian keychains, Christian Mirrors, Christian everything?
When I walk into the average Christian Bookstore I am confronted with a lot of things that aren’t books. Most of the above trinkets, baubles, and chachkies dominate the store. It makes me stop to wonder, what does that say about Christianity in America? Have we reached a point where our Christianity is just something else we can accessorize?
Ok breathe. I came out on the attack. Think with me.
Why do we buy these things to advertise our faith? Why is it that a Christian bookstore carries all this.. stuff?
Friends our faith is in a living God who took on flesh and subjected himself to the futility of human existence and to die unjustly at the hands of his own creation. Not only did he die, but he rose again in victory and glory and through him, through Jesus Christ, we are offered the righteousness of God. Not only has he saved us from our just punishment but he will bring us to himself when we die or when he returns. We get to be with him, in glory, with unveiled faces and without fear of his wrath.
He offers us unimaginable joy. Joy so amazing words cannot describe it. We have been saved from eternal conscious torment by God. He didn’t have to do it. He wasn’t compelled to do so by anything we did. It was purely out of his grace that he did so. Grace, Grace, God’s Grace! Grace that is greater than all our sins!
Our response to this should be joy! Yet, we get complacent. We buy a few trinkets to soothe our consciences that we don’t share this joy with others. We cover the veneer of shame with baubles to say we live for God without us opening our mouths to say we live for God.
When next you reach for that thing to wear or display that says “I am a Christian” please consider not buying it. Consider sharing the Gospel with someone. That joy that you have in your heart wasn’t meant to be locked up. It was meant to shine brightly. It wasn’t meant to burst forth from your lips. That joy was meant to be sung, spoken, and lived out.
Don’t buy a thing; share life.
