Bumper stickers

Watching bumper stickers go by can be interesting, humorous, mystifying as well as baffling. It seems many of us have the need to enlighten our fellow travelers about an idea, boast of some successful challenge or reprimand thousands of complete strangers about some pet peeve that haunts and taunts them. Some bumper stickers often reflect rude pornographic thoughts while others try and convince us that they are part of a special group, set apart for a Devine purpose.

I have often thought of several slogans myself that I believed should appear on a bumper sticker. At the time of conception they seemed like just the right message to display and that if I pursued their publication I would soon sell millions. However, after passing a work truck the other day and reading several prominently displayed bumper stickers that made absolutely no sense to me I have decided not to publish any of my own.

Some bumper stickers which encourage slower drivers to use the right hand lanes, encourage faster drivers to slow down  or discourage tailgating seem to be ignored by all who need to change that specific behavior. Other bumper stickers that endorse political candidates, environmental concerns or medical cures seem like a good idea as long as they don’t invite mischief from others of opposing views. We should all be willing to agree to disagree without any retaliation or resentment. 

Freedom of speech, the sharing of ideas and the right to persuade others is a glorious right that is worth fighting for. Unfortunately, not everything is benign to share for discussion, publication or for our view on a passing bumper.  There is a line to what is edifying and what is destructive.

One bumper sticker suggests that we should all be tolerant of each other’s religious views. But what if your religious view insists on my extermination? Even within Christendom there have arisen many divisions on doctrine, tradition and religious practices. These divisions have widened so much that over the centuries many killings and bloody wars have been fought in the name of God. 

 Over these many centuries since the death of Jesus, the giving of the Spirit and the birth of the church divisions have continued over interpretation of what Jesus said, taught or commanded. In some instances these divisions have   grown into hateful dogma that is contradictory to what Jesus originally came to teach us about; that we should love one another.

As men become more rigid and lose their flexibility their hearing begins to dim and suddenly “our way” is the only way to find God, obtain salvation or enter into fellowship with one another. Soon their causes turn to crusades that usually end with men and women were being burned, tortured or murdered.

Look around you and you will see a variety of skin colors, cultures and customs. Everyone ever born was created in the image of God.  We are all His creation and children who when injured all bleed the exact same red blood. There isn’t any one group that is better, has more potential or is worthy to receive special revelation. 

There is a spiritual battle raging among the nations, a battle whose roots go back so far that many don’t even know what it is all about. This destructive force is alive and raging on many city streets in our great country. It wasn’t all that long ago that our great civil war divided families and put some brothers and cousins on opposite sides of a rifle barrel.

By definition there can only be one God and His name is Jehovah. There is only one church and Jesus is the head of it. We are all His purchased possession, His bride and bond servants who need to stop fighting and begin to allow the Spirit to do His job of cleansing us. 

From the burning bush to a manger in Bethlehem God has touched the soil where we live, walked among us and has invited us to join him on a walk into eternity.  The battle that rages on in the heavens among the angelic creatures doesn’t have to pour out onto us here on earth to reign in our hearts and minds.

 Jesus holds the key to life everlasting and He alone is the only one who is worthy to open the seal. He is the head of the church, the Alpha and the Omega. He is the bright Morning Star, first born of all creation and He will one day rule and reign, His kingdom here on earth, with an iron scepter. So If you have faith in Him then you already have His mark on your forehead. It’s a mark that was made with a permanent marker, a heavenly bumper sticker that reads “I belong to Jesus!”