In our Western Christian Culture, we are drowning in a sea of Christian paraphernalia. We see scriptures written on magnets, pictures, postcards, key chains, breath mints, t-shirts, caps, bumper stickers, plaques, door rugs, wall rugs, throws, pillows, wind chimes, candles, coffee mugs, necklaces, pins, watches, bracelets, earrings, socks, picture frames, stickers, toothpick holders, gum, posters, soap and more.
We have surrounded ourselves with Christian symbolism, which has become a weight to us and we don’t even realize it. Our Christian culture promotes and makes money off of these trinkets that we buy and give as gifts. These trinkets have very little meaning in our lives unless given to us by a special person on a special occasion.
Our homes, churches, places of business and our cubicles at work are cluttered with such objects. We hope that they witness to or encourage those who may come into contact with them. In realty, they have very little power to impact and produce any lasting change in those who see them. Even though the words written on these objects may be from the Bible, without the Spirit they have no life. (2 Corinthians 3:6). These objects with scriptures written on them have no power to witness. In reality they are just religious icons.
If individuals cannot see those scriptures and words in your life, then you my Dear Sister are promoting a religious faith that has no power to save, heal, change and bring hope to an individual’s life.
To rise above our Christian Culture, we need to do some drastic changing. To begin to build a life, that is authentic and to have an authentic walk with the Spirit, you need to get rid of the things that clutter your life. The real you can not breathe while drowning under this sea of Christian paraphernalia
The Word tells us in 2 Corinthians 3:2 that we are to be “epistles known and read by all men, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts”. It is when your husband, your children, you neighbor or your co-worker sees Christ in you, then they have seen the power to change, to be healed, to be saved and to be free. When they see Jesus in you then they have seen His Word in action.
It is a new year and it is time to de-clutter and begin the process of excavating. Jesus said “everyone who hears My words and acts on them, he is like a wise man who dug deep and laid a foundation on the Rock”. (Luke 6: 47)To build your house on that Rock, which is Christ, and not your Christian culture you must excavate for the real Jesus in the real you.
In this New Year, I challenge you to go through your home, your workplace and de-clutter these things that are weighing you down. You may be surprised at how much you have and how good you will feel in letting go of these objects.
I dare you to breathe this New Year. I dare you to search for the real Jesus, in the real you.
Let’s go excavating!
