August 9 2017 – Click here to listen
When I lived in Jacksonville Florida I attended a church with a large Sunday school class for businessmen. One of the men that was in our class, Tom Boney, made sure each Sunday that all of us were wearing a little gold cross on our lapel. He invariably had a pocket full of them and if he spied a member without one, he immediately would approach them and pin one on telling us that we were “out of uniform.” I got in the habit of wearing one pretty much all the time and later found Tom’s source for them and began handing them out myself.
That was many years ago now and I eventually got out of the habit of wearing one all the time. I was on the plane coming to Washington D.C. and observing some of the sour looking people boarding the plane. I didn’t see one smile and for whatever reason it got me to thinking about the vicious anti-Christian sentiment in the nation nowadays, and I wondered how folks would react to me wearing a Tom Boney cross. Would they smile or grimace even more?
Personally, I don’t give a hoot what anyone thinks and would wear one proudly, plus carry a Bible, and hand out tracts that detail the plan of salvation, but some are more intimidated. I was in a meeting yesterday and one of the participants told the group that she felt threatened as a Christian and was worried about overtly letting strangers know her belief in Jesus Christ.
What has happened to the Christian brand?
I watched a famous atheist being interviewed the other night and he is currently being attacked for ridiculing the Muslim faith by none other than the progressive left. These are the same people that have applauded him for years for appearing in universities and colleges to debate Christians and ridicule our belief system. He told the host that he treated all religions with the same contempt, but was only attacked when he went after the Muslim faith.
Considering their belief in sharia law and its harsh treatment of homosexuals, (extermination), women being clad in head-to-toe black sacks with eye holes and viewed as property, barbaric punishment of criminals, including cutting off hands and heads, it has to make one wonder why these purportedly tolerant liberal people would writhe their hands in anguish because this atheist dared attack the teachings of Muhammed, (while welcoming the same guy when he attacks Christians.)
What’s up with that?
I don’t know but I do know that Jesus told us that we must not deny Him or He would deny us to His Father in heaven. Boldly stand up for the Lord, but when you do so just ensure it helps and not hurts the Christian brand.
Several years ago, I deliberately drove my car through a large puddle of water and doused a cyclist because he was slowly driving his bicycle down the center of a busy road and holding up traffic for miles in downtown Atlanta after a heavy rain storm during rush hour. When he pulled over to go around the puddle to avoid it, I sped up and drove through it and delivered a twenty-foot wall of water on him that knocked his glasses askew on his face.
I looked in the rear view mirror and sardonically laughed for a block. I recounted that story in Words for the Day, and a reader admonished me and stated he hoped I didn’t have any Christian stickers or a fish sign on my car that would let anyone know I was a Christian.
At the time, I blew that comment off, but today I’m rethinking it. If we call ourselves Christians shouldn’t we behave like Jesus Christ as best we can. I don’t think Jesus would have sprayed that joker no matter how frustrated He was.
I’m concerned about the deteriorating Christian brand. We give more to charity than any other group and our religion is one of love and not hate, and yet we are reviled all over the world. In fact, Christians are the most persecuted group on the face of the earth.
I don’t think crosses, bumper stickers, carrying Bibles, or salvation tracts is the answer. It is how we live our lives. Let your life shine the light of Jesus to everyone you encounter today and demonstrate His love to a world in desperate need of Him.
Matt. 5:13
You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a lamp stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house . . .