Skip to main content

Symbols of Faith... and Growth

I was cleaning out one of our closets a few days ago and ran across my wedding rings. Not sure if anyone even knows this except for my wife, but it took a long time to pick a ring. I really wanted a ring to show my faith, so I found a couple of options that I bought online to try out. One was a big black one with a cross and Celtic decorations surrounding it, another was a bit smaller and with a simple swirling fish like design. They were both a bit thick, but I was so excited to wear a ring with a message. After a few months of wearing it I got annoyed with its size, especially in the IT world. Eventually I changed it out for a simple aluminum one that I bought in a market while Katherine and I were in Philadelphia. I still have both the rings hanging out in the closet, never sold them for some reason.

As I looked at the rings sitting there I started to ponder. I wanted the ring to be a symbol of our marriage and to show that I was a Christian. I wanted people to know that my faith was important to me. But what does it look like to really show your faith in this world? Does having a big ring, carrying a big Bible, wearing a bold Christian T-shirt, and a "witnessing" sticker on your car really show a transformed life anyways? I used to think that showing your faith meant these things. As the years go by I find more and more that symbols have not helped me become part of the solution, but part of the problem. Logically, did I really think someone would look at my shirt and say, "Wow, that makes me want to become a Christian!" 

I look back to what it meant to be a Christian in the time of Christ, when it had little to do with the external symbolism. The fish symbol is a good example. They used the symbol to show that they were Christians, but in the underground since revealing your faith meant persecution or death. The real power that was seen among the Christians was internal transformation through the Spirit's work, and externally showing the love of Christ to those around them. Perhaps we believe this because of the materialistic world we live in, where identity has to do with the clothes that you wear, the car you drive, the college you attended, your job, or the church you identify with. 

Even so, my conclusions were somewhat countered in the Old Testament. The priests would have scripture draped over their robes, on their forehead, on the door of their house, and so on. Would this be the same thing? Could be, but it was not for me. My shirts were not about celebrating the new life I had in Christ, but political ideologies like my “Christianity is not a Religion” shirt. This was less about Christ and more about making a statement that I wanted to fight about. It was true that I wanted to share my faith in the fight, but how often does that work? There are lots of symbols like this around, very hurtful to the ultimate purpose of the Gospel since we usually combine the symbol with things that are not beneficial, or not scriptural.

Perhaps stripping off the material will expose that these are just coverings that are trying to hide us from the true Joy of following Jesus. If we can attract those around us to Him through pure love and heart transformation rather than just outer appearances, then perhaps they can see the real Christ. Doing so will also drive our deep need to depend on Him and not symbols that could distort truth. We forgive because He forgave. We love because He first loved us. We are redeemed because He is good. What do we need besides Him? Nothing! It is a good thing too, I probably did not reflect Christ very well while I was cutting people off in traffic with a fish symbol on my car.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Little Perspective

That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Hopeful Branch

There was a trail that I frequented as a kid that was in a forest near our house. I loved riding my bike through the tree-soaked paths without a care in the world, building forts and climbing trees. It was like I was away from all of mankind, in my hiding place, my sanctuary. Maybe there is something inherited about a love of the woods. I imagine Adam experienced the same things as he looked at the beauty of God’s creation. Did he look up through the trees at night under the moonlight and watch the bats fly around catching bugs like I did? Did he look at the twisted branches and ponder the paths of life?  He was like a newborn, was he not? In a lot of ways, trees remind me of how life should be lived. We are like branches, reaching to the heavens trying to grasp the substance of the sun, fully dependant on outside forces for our sustenance. Just as the branches move with the wind, our lives flow in the sway of life through the Spirit, which is where the make comes from. Season afte...
Post a Comment
Read more

Glory...

Both we and our fathers have sinned;  we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness. Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make known his mighty power. (Psalm 106:6-8) Glory has been a word that has been put in my heart over the last few months. It all started after I finished being humbled by a friend in another attempt to stick myself in the middle of something that I should have let go. As I went for a walk, defending myself of course, I heard God clearly speak to me in the middle of my complaining. He said to me “Stop stealing my glory.” After snapping out of myself he repeated the phrase and opened my heart to what I was doing. I so much wanted to be the hero, a person who brings people together so that we can see God's work because of my works and determination. In the middle...
Read more