Brand Recognition?

Proverbs 22:1
1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
Loving favor rather than silver and gold.

It never ceases to amaze me how God speaks differently to people even while using the exact same words. Last night the pastor of our church read this verse to us at our Sunday night fellowship dinner and followed it up with a very good lesson about people and their perception of Christians and Christianity.

His point was that rather than being the richest church with the greatest attendance and most impressive worship team and services, we should be a church with a good name. A church whose members and staff are thought of as honorable in the community. A body of like minded believers who have become a living breathing example of Christ’s love and teachings. He taught how, often, the church has been given a bad name in the public eye. From sex scandals to theft, from endorsing hate to standing idly by as hate crimes are committed, our Christian church has given herself a bad name. We, through the works of others, have been given a bad name and a bad reputation.

While he was teaching, I realized something. Society, the world, views us by what we have. They judge us based on our stature in the community. People look at a church with its lights and fancy stages, its ornate decorations, and stained glass windows that pay homage to some former parishioner, and immediately think about the money and riches that went in to the building. They’re not thinking about Jesus and His sacrifice for them; they’re too busy oohing and awing over the laser show.

So I went back and reread this verse with all that our pastor had just said in my mind. What was revealed to me was simply Jesus. A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches. Whose good name? My good name, my good reputation? Certainly not. I should choose, we should choose the name of Jesus, and His reputation, rather than the riches of this world. Not that wealth is a bad thing, but our focus, our life should revolve around branding ourselves with the name of Jesus.

I’ve heard some churches say, “It’s all about brand recognition” as a reason for changing their logo from a cross to something edgy and trendy. I agree with the statement, but I want to be brand recognized as a belonging to Jesus. I don’t want to be a product of a church; I want to be a product of Jesus. I don’t want to be recognized by the good name of “X-church” that I’ve chosen, but rather by the name of Jesus Christ whom I have chosen.

What about the rest of this Proverb? Loving favor rather than silver and gold. I’ll say it simply; by choosing Jesus as your brand name you are also choosing His loving favor and labeling it more precious than silver and gold. Jesus is everywhere in the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. To me this Proverb reads, “The name of Jesus is to be chosen rather than great riches, His loving favor rather than silver and gold.”

So yes, we do want a good reputation and that reputation should be more important to us than great riches. We’ve all heard the saying, “His reputation (or name) precedes him.” Likewise, we want the reputation (or name) that we have chosen for ourselves to precede us. I want the name of Jesus going before me. I want His reputation with the Father speaking for me before I get there!