What is your brand?

Luke 7:33-35

What is your brand?  I worked for 3M Company and we have a good brand, but it did not happen by accident, it required the top levels of the organization to measure all action on the effect of our brand.  And what was our brand; a company that put its money in research and development of materials to produce a product that would out perform and far exceed the expectations of the consumer.

Not only does a corporation have a brand, so does a church, a charitable organization, a family, and you; each of these make an indelible impression on others, and that mark is your brand or the way others perceive you.  So as a follower of Christ does that guarantee us a good brand, maybe a look into how John the Baptist and Jesus were perceived will be of some help? “For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”  (Luke 7:33-35 ESV)

That’s not real encouraging for a follower of Christ who is concerned about the brand others are going to give them. This may help, it is a statement Jesus made to his disciples: “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. "Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:15-17)  And the example was serving others; Jesus had just washed the feet of His disciples.  Now for all who are concerned about your brand as a follower of Christ, this may push you over the edge, it is found in the gospel of John 15:18-21, “If the world hates you, know that it has 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. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. But all these things they will do to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.”

All of the above is 100% correct, but this is not to discourage you the follower of Christ or you as a potential follower.  Why do you and I follow Christ, if not for the reason listed by the apostle Peter to Jesus’ question, “So Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. "We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God." (John 6:67-68)

Now before leaving look with me to Luke 7:35, “Yet wisdom is justified by all her children.”   On page 1750 under notes in my HCSB it has this insight: “this means that the teaching of John the Baptist and Jesus will be shown correct by all those who live (and live well) by following their teaching.”  With that said, if your brand is all about how others perceive you, you do not want to be branded as being a Christian.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice