Branded!

Our ‘cosmos’ (present world system) parades brand name products before our senses like ‘nobodies business’. Marketing works! The numbers don’t lie. It is incredible how much money ‘branders’ will spend to get our attention and plant their client’s product in our mind. And they are after one thing; developing loyalty to their advertized brand. Does this sound familiar? He’s a ‘Marlboro man’, a ‘chevy lover’, or ‘crazy for Cocoa Puffs’!  

Madison Avenue in New York City is the giant in the development of ‘brand-name’ obsession and craze. The Advertizing companies on Madison Avenue are among the largest, most profitable, and sought after in the world. Proper market research and name recognition equal a ‘brand name’. And it’s not just for the establishing of product recognition-reliability or depending upon the experience being the same every time is equally created.

The name ‘Duck Dynasty’ is presently all the craze! They have indelibly written their ‘brand’ on countless products. But, all of that can come crashing down in a day! Instead of their ‘name recognition’ or ‘brand-name’ being a blessing, it can also become a curse overnight—just ask Paula Dean the Southern recipe and cooking sensation.

Smart farmers and ranchers put their ‘brand’ on their cattle. That way if they are lost or stolen the ‘brand’ proves who the rightful owner is. Branding always leaves a ‘scar’. As followers of Jesus we are also branded! The Apostle of Grace, Paul; put being ‘branded’ this way:

“From this time onward let no one trouble me; for, as for me, I bear, branded on my body, the scars of Jesus as my Master”. (Galatians 6:17 WYT)

“Quite frankly, I don't want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do - the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.” (Galatians 6:17 Msg)

“All they have eyes for is the fashionable god of darkness. They think he can give them what they want, and that they won't have to bother believing a Truth they can't see. They're stone-blind to the dayspring brightness of the Message that shines with Christ, who gives us the best picture of God we'll ever get.

Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we're proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, "Light up the darkness!" and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful. If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness (the Jesus ‘brand’).

We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at.

We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us - trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us - he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us.

 While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best! We're not keeping this quiet, not on your life. Just like the psalmist who wrote, "I believed it, so I said it," we say what we believe. And what we believe is that the One who rose up the Master Jesus will just as certainly raise us up with you, alive". (2 Corinthians 4:4-14)

Again, branding leaves a scar! But it is those very scars, the ‘brand’ of Jesus stamped upon our soul and spirit, which assures us of belonging to the ‘brander’! My identity ‘brand-name’ is Jesus!

Jesus Christ, Our Brand-name and Identity, Ron Ross