Buying Into a Brand

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.”-Ephesians 1:13-14

In the process of moving I have made an interesting observation about myself, I have a specific brand of clothing I really like more than others. When I was a kid I remember wearing VANS shoes all the time. There was a reason for it, I felt comfortable in the shoes, but even deeper I thought I would be able to skateboard better. It wasn’t necessarily true, but I felt like I could. 

Then, I moved on to flip-flops. I loved flip-flops, still do, but I appreciated the Rainbow brand because they felt great on my feet and they molded to the shape of my foot. I would wear other brands, but the brands mentioned were the brands I spoke about loudly and proudly.

That is the thing about brands. When we buy in to a brand we share it proudly. We wear the swoosh, the guy riding a horse playing polo, the rhino symbol, or others so everyone can see what we are wearing. We represent the brand we have faith in.

We won’t tell people about brands we don’t believe in. If we have a bad experience we tell people about the poor decision we made to buy that item. We speak up when we know something is legit and others would benefit from it. We are willing to keep the faith, even when something doesn’t work out with the brand.

For instance, SONY had an issue with PlayStation 3 when their database was compromised. A lot of information was released and there were people who struggled to trust the system. However, they still had faith in the brand. They knew SONY would fix the issue and sure enough PS3 became a huge hit and has led to PS4 coming out this holiday season. If people didn’t buy into that brand, SONY would have lost a lot of money and possibly disappeared from the gaming community.

What about Christ? Have we bought into His brand? Now, bear with this idea a bit. Christianity is a lifestyle, but it is a brand. Look at bumper stickers, t-shirts, music genre, etc. and my point is proven. However, are we sold out on this brand? Are we willing to defend it? Are we willing to spread the word about it regularly?

This is a brand that can change the lives of many, and a brand that can flip a world upside down when people give everything they have to represent it well.

As followers of Christ, we need to wear our brand well. When a celebrity or spokesperson representing a brand ruins their own image, people stop using that brand even if it isn’t the brand’s fault. When we are claiming the name of Christ, then our life should share it clearly. Let’s walk as representatives of the brand of Christ in order to get more people to walk in His steps.