Bumper Stickers (Jas 2 & Rom 15:5-7)

As I was driving to work this morning, I began to notice the bumper stickers on everyone’s cars. Since it’s over 30 miles and over an hour one way, let’s just say I saw LOTS of bumber stickers!

I began to ponder why people – including myself – put bumper stickers on their cars. I am a Texas Aggie… and proud of it. I have my Texas A&M Former Student sticker on both cars. Why? Why do any of us put stickers on our cars? What causes us to put a sticky piece of $.05 plastic – that fades in the summer sun – on our automobiles – some of which cost a small fortune!

I believe it’s for basically one reason… …to somehow identify with someone or something out there.

Bumper stickers tell people about us: what we like, what we dislike, what we wish we were doing, what we support, what we don’t. Bumper stickers tell people what we’re proud of, how smart our kids are, how smart our dogs are. Bumper stickers tell others what kind of music and bands we listen to and what our favorite radio stations are. Bumper stickers tell people about our education (Gig’Em!), our beliefs, our passions and our fears. Bumper stickers tell all kinds of things about the owner of the car.

So… what bumper stickers are on your car? What do you tell your fellow commuters about yourself with your stickers?

Me? I tell them I graduated from Texas A&M. I tell them that we have family serving in Iraq and that we support our miltary. I thought about putting a plastic fish on my car to tell others about my faith, but after careful consideration and self evaluation, I decided not to! I want to glorify Christ in my actions, not bring shame to his name…

I find myself judging people by their stickers…. Yep… I said it. My guess is that you do too. When I started thinking about this, Papa reminded me what I had studied this morning as I read.

James 2:8-9 (NIV)
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor
as yourself,”you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are
convicted by the law as lawbreakers.

I find myself classifying people into various catagories by their stickers. Some people, I immediately dismiss as ingnorant, stupid, a punk, selfish, “___________” (fill in the blank). Honestly, “stupid idiot” is THE most used utterance out of my mouth in reference to others on the road. My dad uses my personal favorite… “inbred moron” – it makes me laugh.

I find myself disliking people that I don’t even know because of their stickers… because of what they have chosen to identify with. I hate it when I do that. I really do. All that really matters is WHO we have chosen to identify with. There are two groups of humans in all the earth – those that know and trust Jesus Christ as their only salvation (we’ll call these “believers”), and those that don’t (“non-believers”). Everything else is insignificant. That which is on the outside of the car is not near as important as what’s on the inside of the car. People – and their eternal destiny – are the only thing that matter.

Romans 15:5-7 (NIV)
5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of
unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.

God is encouraging me to live in unity with my brothers & sisters in Christ and to glorify Him in all ways. That addresses both classifications.

1. Accept fellow believers – however broken we might be (“… just as Christ accepted you…“) and
2. Show God’s glory to non-believers in unity at all times. In God’s uncanny wisdom, this is exactly opposite of how the world deals with believers. James 2:7 says that they “slander and blaspheme that precious name by which you are distinguished and called” (Amplified Version).

Of course, this is all a picture for me. The piece of plastic on the car is totally insignificant. It does draw a good picture for what I wear on my face and in my heart and in my attitude as I “commute” through this life. So in the context of my heart, Papa is asking me the following questions… questions that I really need to search out to find the answer to:

• Am I identifiable (“distinguished and called“) with that precious name?
• What “bumper stickers” do I wear on my self (metaphorically) that identifies me with Jesus Christ?
• What old “stickers” do I need to take off that just don’t identify me with Christ – that send mixed and confusing messages to my fellow man?
• Do the “stickers” of my life bring glory and praise to God?

Running After Papa,