Signs

The number of signs we see every day in the various places we pass through is astounding. Above all, I am struck by the number of images one can see when boarding a bus. At the front, surrounding the driver’s seat, we can find all kinds of messages. For example, there is one I liked because it says, “Jesus is the way,” against a relaxing and hopeful green background. I almost identified with the driver, until I realized that beside it was a little doll symbolizing a witch; next to it was a wooden sign depicting a mouth with a tongue sticking out and a dagger piercing the tongue, near which a small red cloth was tied.

Another one that caught my attention was a large sign that said, “Only God loves me,” above which there was a little figurine with a pig’s face, dressed as a devil. I do not know whether a superior mind could understand and connect such contrasting messages; I cannot. Truly, whenever I see a message proclaiming God’s love, I am disappointed by the distorted messages accompanying it, which deny that the person displaying them walks hand in hand with God.

Beware of mixed messages.

In our walk with Christ, we sometimes convey incomprehensible messages, especially to those who do not know our Lord or who are weak in faith. With one hand we give love, and with the other we bring the club down upon the hearts of those around us. We carry signs saying, “We are Christians,” but alongside them people read: “Lovelessness, selfishness, envy, strife, gossip, rivalry, vengeance…”

We cannot preach a God who denies Himself; that is not the God we know. We are His image, His workmanship; we cannot present a distorted image of a God who gave Himself out of love for us. We cannot subject an immutable God to mutations.

Confront yourself every day of your life. Examine the signs you are carrying and begin letting go of your burdens. Let only the image of the living God remain in your life—the God who created you with the purpose that you would be light and that everyone could read in your life what you have to reveal about Him.

Contrasts are not bad; it merely depends on whom we are trying to glorify through them. Make sure that you glorify God.