No tags yet.
Growing up as a kid in Miami Florida you run into all kinds of stores that unless you're Pitbull you would never shop from. Back when kids liked collecting quarters to fill up a USA map me and my older brother would grab what we would need to hop on a city bus and visit the fanciest mall in our neighborhood. Aventura Mall was in the middle of a ritzy area therefore most of the stores never really applied to us or our trading card/ comic book collecting needs. It was always funny to see people walk out of these stores having just bought $600 cologne that makes them smell like a mix of freshly new bought luggage with leather (will they ever come out with cologne that smells like cereal? Because I thought for sure if they made green ketchup a thing they could make Cinnamon Toast Crunch a fragrance). Nevertheless it was fun to walk into these kinds of stores and touch everything while having employees follow you around asking where your parents are and why I was let out of a zoo. Our favorite game to play of course is guessing how much each item was worth without looking at the price tag. If I was to ever be on the Price is Right Game show I know for a fact I would be that guy yelling the exact numbers I WOULD need to make Drew Carey hand me fat stacks of free cash.
One day while playing a game of mystery price tag I noticed a simple black V-neck shirt nicely displayed on a rack near the front of the store. "No way are they selling just a plain V-neck, this looks like a Hanes shirt" I said to myself. You could find this shirt in the middle of the Walmart men's section for $7 next to a cardboard cutout of Michael Jordan promoting socks. Not this store, people would have to pay $165 for the same material. Yeah I know what you're thinking but it wasn't bulletproof or made out of pieces of black panther's mask. What was the difference between the two shirts? The brand.
When we come to accept Jesus as our Lord we get the opportunity to reflect God's greatness, we carry a brand that has a weight and a meaning. We carry the name of a God who sent His son to give us a life that no one else could give. How we love makes a difference, how we act makes a difference, how we read scriptures makes a difference. Colossians 3:12-14 states "Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."
These verses paint a beautiful picture of Christ followers being the only ones who can truly show compassion or love like no one else can. Not because believers are better than people who don't follow Christ but because we get to carry a brand and represent a Savior. I wonder sometimes by the way I act or talk if I'm representing God's greatest gift on Earth or if i'm confusing everyone as to why i'm wearing a brand that I don't fully believe in myself.