Where (and How) We Point--July 19, 2024

Where (and How) We Point--July 19, 2024

"In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory." [Ephesians 1:11-12]

Just to go on record here, I'm never going to get a tattoo of a sports team logo.  I'm never going to fly a flag for a political candidate on my front porch flagpole, either.  And I think I'm over my junior-high-school era impulse of buying clothes just for the trademark of the brand.  I'm done with being a walking billboard for lesser things.

If I'm going to let my life point to something, I would rather it be Christ. No team mascot, no corporation with celebrity endorsements, and no political candidate will ever be worthy of orienting my life around or becoming an advertisement for.  But Jesus is.

I'll be the first to confess that I am not always (maybe not even often? hopefully at least on occasion?) very good at pointing to Jesus.  But to the extent that I can control the direction my life points, that's where I want to point: to the God who has loved us and been shown to us in Jesus of Nazareth.  And I would rather spend my energy, my time, my words, and whatever platform I have in this life, trying to be a reflection of Jesus rather than shilling for a demagogue or a company logo.  And the more I think about it, especially the more I reflect on these words from Ephesians that we heard this past Sunday, the more I think that's the goal for all the people of Jesus.  We are meant to orient our lives to Christ, rather than any of the other voices around us who want us to become blank canvases for promoting what they are selling.

That's definitely the gist here in Ephesians, as the writer says that God's purpose in claiming us to belong to the people of Jesus is precisely "so that we... might live for the praise of his glory."  God has claimed us in Christ... so that we will belong to Christ... with the intention that we will be witnesses for Christ by embodying the love of Christ.  Whatever else we thought we were doing with our lives, our voices, and our influence just isn't worth our giving ourselves to.  Sports teams will let us down every time our home team trades away your favorite player or blows a chance at the playoffs.  Companies will disappoint you because their primary goal is ultimately to make their own profits.  Candidates and political parties will never live up to their own hype and are always going to sell out or disappoint.  Jesus is the one who remains consistently worthy of giving our lives to, and he's not going to turn out to be a fraud or a fake.  The writer of Ephesians here would seem to say that all of us might need to take stock and reconsider what brands, ideologies, causes, and names we have let ourselves become unpaid sales associates for.  Maybe it's time to reconsider what yard signs, bumper stickers, shirt logos, flags, and memes we are displaying for the world to see, literally or figuratively, and maybe it's time to re-think to what or to whom our lives are calling attention.

Of course, the follow-up question to ask, if we have decided that we want our lives to point to Jesus and "the praise of his glory," rather than our favorite brand of sneakers or a campaign slogan that is just waiting to become a broken promise, is how we point to Jesus with our lives.  Because that's another key difference between Jesus and corporate logos or team mascots: Jesus is looking for us to glorify him with the way we live our lives.  He doesn't actually need billboards or posters.  He doesn't need us to "look" religious or to play the part of piety with bumper stickers on our cars or cross jewelry--especially not if our lives aren't going to be a reflection of Jesus even more clearly than our accessories. As the second-century church father Ignatius of Antioch once put it, "It is better to keep quiet about our beliefs and live them out, than to talk eloquently about what we live, but fail to live by it." Or, in James Baldwin's phrasing, "I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do."  If we are committed to letting our lives point to Jesus, it's worth asking what picture of him the world gets from what they see in us.  It's a poor reflection of Christ if we post on social media how important Jesus is to us and then act like selfish jerks to everyone around us or are known for our arrogance and spite.  The way to live "for the praise of his glory" is to love the way Jesus' loves.

Today, then, maybe it's worth doing an audit in our lives of where we draw attention.  What are places we have allowed ourselves become free billboard space for lesser things and causes, and where might we one day regret those unpaid endorsements?  What are the ways we can authentically give glory to Jesus, since he doesn't need a show and he is not looking for mere fans, but followers?

Maybe it's time to do some looking around, both inside ourselves, and to ask what our lives look like they are pointing toward by those who see us from the outside.

Lord Jesus, let our lives and actions embody your love, so that our whole existence points toward you.