Bumper Sticker Theology
As many of you know, I have long been fascinated and intrigued by bumper stickers. They seem to communicate something about the owner's philosophy or beliefs in life.
Here are a few of my favorites:
Stop repeat offenders! Don’t re-elect them.
My karma ran over your dogma.
DO NOT WASH! This vehicle is undergoing a scientific dirt test.
8 out of 10 voices in my head say, “Don’t Shoot.”
I’m laying up treasures in heaven, just look at my vehicle.
Lord, help me to be as good as my dog thinks I am.
And then this one: “Life is too precious to waste.” Have you ever noticed how many ways we have devised to waste life?
Get addicted to a life-debilitating substance (e.g., alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.)
Let your life revolve around the uncertainty of money and things.
Live for the expectations of others.
Become a media-holic.
Never resolve any of your conflicts.
Whine about everything you don’t like.
Never help anyone but yourself.
Fill your life with every form of mind-numbing entertainment.
We know life is precious (God created us in His image) and we know God doesn’t want us to waste it (since He designed it for an eternal ultimate purpose). Nobody I know wants to get to the end of their life and find out it was wasted by living for the wrong reason.
How miserable and tragic it would be to miss the value and purpose of life and hear these horrifying words, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).
What might be on God’s celestial bumper sticker? I guess you would have to say, open the Bible and take your pick. It’s God’s transforming truth. Very true, but let me hone it down to two of many profound realities.
“There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Prov. 14:12, 16:25). Are you sure you are headed the right “way”? Don’t get fooled by what “seems right.” God is crystal clear: Our own way is a dead-end street.
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). How would you fill in this blank? “For to me, to live is...what”? Your wealth, health, family, career, personal fulfillment, possessions, respect, power, position, what? Paul reduced life down to the only word that can give you a reason to really “live”: Jesus Christ. He’s the only begotten Son. God. Man. Messiah. Savior. Prophet. Priest. King. Real living is about knowing, loving, serving, worshiping, sharing, and following Jesus Christ.
Next time you see a good bumper sticker, let me know so I can add it to my collection, but better than that, let me know which bumper sticker truth most motivates you in your faith.
Pastor Jeff