Bait and Switch?
Written: October 29th, 2013
So I want to pose this question, Are you over reppin’ Jesus? I want you to think about this question. Like really think about it. Are YOU over reppin’ Jesus??
Here let me explain what I mean by over reppin’, in the christian world today we have all these really cool things. I mean have you been to a christian bookstore or somewhere like that? We have so many cool things like CDs, Books, T-Shirts, Hats, Cups and Mugs, Bumper Stickers, Photo Frames and so many other stuff like that. But here is where my question comes in, are you over reppin’ Jesus. We are generally quick to rep Jesus by wearing T-shirts, hats or having a cool hip bumper sticker on our car but how quick are we to actually be open about our faith? We have all these christian saying and stuff like #TooBlessedToBeStressed or like #Jesus<3U or we have bumper stickers like “Got Jesus?” or “Are you following Jesus this close?” maybe “Real Christians don’t go to church…. real Christians ARE the church!” or “Try Jesus! if you don’t like him, Satan will always take you back!” How about the T-shirts with stuff like “God wants YOU TO BE[insert YouTube logo here] Saved!” or you’ve got “Pick Jesus[insert guitar pick here]” We are all willing to wear these shirts or have these bumper stickers but why?
Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believe, to the Jew first and also to the gentiles.” Is it because we are “Unashamed”?? Here’s what I mean, Do we wear these T-shirts and stuff because they are good conversation starters?? If that’s the case then we have got it wrong.. We can’t be waiting for people to come up to us and ask us about our faith, we have to be willing to go OUT! If all we ever do is wait for people to come in, then we will never reach the lost and broken world. What I mean by over reppin’ Jesus is, are you wearing all the T-shirts, Hats or drinking out of the cups and mugs or driving around with the Jesus bumper stickers for the show? Are you wanting everyone to know that you a christian by the status’ you post or the tweets you tweet? Ok lets just be honest here, your not going to reach very many people that way. So here is the real question, are you really unashamed? Are you willing to look like a fool for the sake of the gospel? I don’t mean are you willing to look stupid by wearing a hat. I mean are you willing to actually go out and talk to people and not care if they make fun of you or reject you.
Let me break it down to the heart of this issue. We probably all wear the T-shirts and make a big deal about our faith on Facebook and Twitter because we our in the safety of our comfort zone. No one can reject us when we are in our zone. So we wear the shirts, the hats have the bumper stickers because its the safest way. So by doing that we over rep Christ. People will see a lot about him by our cars and shirts but they will never know him if that’s the way we choose to share Christ. We are over selling Jesus and not actually delivering him. Jesus tells us to go into the world and spread the gospel, one thing Jesus never and I mean ever said was it was going to be safe and easy. We need to start actually living out what we are saying. We can’t be scared of being rejected or made fun of because the truth is you will be rejected and made fun of.
Jesus says in John 15:18-19 ” If the world hates you, know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” Jesus says it pretty straightforward that the world will, WILL hate you. So that could be a pretty scary thing and a reason why we would be in our safe zones but why? Deuteronomy 31:8 says “It is The Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you nor forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” DO NOT FEAR!! Paul points out in Romans 8:31 “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” So why should we live and operate in our comfort/safety zone? God never called us to do so instead Jesus calls us to GO! We need to turn back to God and repent for the fear of man in our hearts and truly understand that God is with us. We need to stop over reppin’ Christ and start living it out!
