What Does Your Brand Say About You?

To me, one of the most disturbing features of present-day evangelism is the over-emphasis on what man can do, and I believe this to be the reason why we so often fail to get men and women to make the contact with Christ that is vital.  Duncan Campbell

How easy it is to live more or less in the enjoyment of God's free grace, and yet not realize that we are called to fulfill a divinely appointed purpose.  Duncan Campbell

I was driving down the freeway this morning in the dark and about a mile up ahead I could see a truck.  I couldn’t tell what color the truck was, although I could tell it was a dark color.  On the back panel of this delivery truck was a big bright yellow oval.  I knew immediately what kind of truck it was.  It was an Eckrich sausage truck.  I couldn’t read the name until I got closer, but I could identify what it was just by the shape and color of the yellow oval on the back of the truck.

 

I read a lot of stuff and I found an article called “5 Marks of an Effective Brand” by Orhan McMillan & Rebecca Robert.  My first thought was that we all brand ourselves in the public eye.  Just like a cattle rancher brands his cattle so that people will know they belong to him, so also we are branded when we become a Christian.  God places his brand on us, “Child of God”.  Although, this article was intended as a way to market a product, the same can be applied to us as Christians.  How we brand ourselves to the world can mean the difference in someone going to heaven or not.  Listed below are the “5 Marks of an Effective Brand” and how they apply to our Christian life.

1. Distributes your message clearly.  This one is tough.  Do I show the world God’s message clearly or do I only show the world what I want them to see.  Can other people clearly tell that I am a “Child of God” by my actions?  I think too many times I want to blend in with my surroundings.  If I claim the brand that God has given me, then people may ridicule me or make fun of me.
2. Endorses your credibility. So if we are about the business of saving souls for God, does our brand clearly convey credibility, leading people to trust God.
3. Sparks a connection.  Do we build relationships with people or do we judge them?  If we are about the business of judging someone else then we are not going to make a God connection.  If we project to the world that we are better than them because we are a Christian and they aren’t, then our God message is lost.
4. Motivates the buyer.  In our interactions with other people, do we make others want what we have with our heavenly Father?  Our purpose in this life is to show those who do not know God, that there is an amazing life in eternity with Him.  Does the way we live our life make someone else want it so badly that they can’t help but want what we have?
5. Creates brand loyalty.  The way we live our life can either push people away from God or toward Him. If I am loyal to my Heavenly Father it will attract others.  Do I show other people that I am loyal to Jesus Christ or just the opposite?

An effective brand is the most important marketing decision a company will ever make. Just ask Coca Cola, McDonalds and Starbucks.  An effective brand is also described as a positive combination of logo, words, design, colors, personality, service and price.  Jesus Christ paid the ultimate price for us to be branded with His logo.  Service for the Lord should be our first priority so that others will recognize Him in us. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I don’t always make a good impression on others with my brand of Christian.  I fail over and over again and when others see that, they don’t trust my brand.  If I am called a “Child of God”, everything I do and say should reflect it.  Help me when I fail, to get back up and keep pursuing You with everything in me. I want my life to be a reflection of You so that others can be branded a “Child of God.”

Scripture: But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.

 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”  Galatians 2:14-21