Ever since the early cowboy days, branding has been a way to mark a cow as belonging to a certain ranch or rancher. Today, that mark may be a tag clipped into the ear, or a chip under the skin, or, still, a brand burned into the hide.
Branding is a distinction that makes the cow uniquely separate from all other cows and says this cow belongs to a particular herd. You can even mix herds together and be able to separate them by checking the brands.
Today, branding refers to a marketing concept. A brand is how a company is known. It’s what separates them from all other businesses. They may be generally like other companies doing the same things, but sharp marketeers find a way to make their business stand out.
Branding is the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. You see a logo and automatically know the product or company. You hear a theme song and know what’s being advertised. Even certain spokespersons are identified by what they’re selling.
How does a company build its brand?
- They define how they want to be perceived.
- They organize their business based on this perception.
- They communicate their perception creatively.
- They do it all consistently.
A well-branded business places certain expectations into the minds of customers.
People are also branding themselves. Being known for what they say or do, how they act or how they come across. Their brand is the widespread belief that they have a particular habit, set of skills or characteristics.
We call that our reputation. It’s what people know us by.
Are we honest? Are we kind?
Are we reliable? Are we generous? Are we cranky? Are we snobby? Can we keep a
secret?
Our reputation is the defining label by which we’re known. It may not be all that defines us, but it’s what stands out when others think of us. It’s our brand. They see us coming; they know what to expect.
Why do we use certain plumbers? We know what to expect from them. Why do we shop at certain stores? We know what to expect from them. Why do we eat at certain restaurants? We know what to expect from them.
Reputation is what draws us to businesses, products or people. It can also be what drives us away from them. One bad experience might be enough for us to refuse to go back, or buy what they are selling, or recommend them to others. Our negative comments may make others not even try them.
That’s why businesses want you to evaluate their products or services. Rate them with 5 stars. Give them high marks. Give them a positive review. That’s so they can use your opinion to encourage others to use their services as well.
But, reputation is subjective. It fluctuates. It’s fluid. It changes. Which places reputation into the category of opinion. In fact, it is the accumulated opinion of what others perceive to be who we really are. But is it the truth? They may catch us when we’re having a bad day, or maybe a really good day. We could be in the middle of falling apart or finally getting it back together. A reputation is fragile and can be easily broken or tarnished by a single indiscretion. On the other hand, character isn’t defined by reputation. Character is the heart of the person.
Character is what drives us. It operates by inner traits or ingrained qualities. Reputation can be driven by our upbringing or personality or life-changing circumstances. Reputation is what people think they see, which may or may not be true. Character is what’s true.
When someone excuses their actions by saying: that’s not who I am, actually it is. What they meant to say was: that’s not how I want to be seen. That’s not the public image I want. But what people see becomes who they believe us to be. And that’s how we are branded.
Does God have a brand? What’s His reputation? His reputation is what we think about Him when we mention His name. Is what we think accurate or assumed? Is His reputation the same for me as it is for you? Which means, we may not have the same God in mind when we say the word. How I see God may not be how you see Him.
What has shaped that reputation? Typically, we form our opinion about God by how we have interacted with Him. If we’ve had little interest in spending time with Him, we feel He is distant from us. If we’ve allowed rebellion to run free in our lives, we feel He is disconnected from us. If we’ve made limited attempts to trust Him, we carry a lot of doubt about Him. If we expected Him to do something in some tangible way and He didn’t, we are disappointed in Him.
We judge God by limited experiences:
· I prayed once when my momma was sick and she died, so God doesn’t answer prayers.
· I was violated as a kid and God didn’t stop it, so God doesn’t care.
· I asked God to take away my sinful urges and He didn’t, so God isn’t there.
Ever hear someone say: If I were God, I would have… Is that how we want to judge God? Based on what we would do? We really want a God who is the extension of our desires instead of a God with plans beyond what we can even think or ask for? Ps 50:21 These things you have done and I kept silence; You thought that I was just like you;
When God doesn’t do what we expect Him to do, and from that expectation form our opinion about Him, most likely that opinion won’t be true. We will have decided His reputation based on a moment in time that He never obligated Himself to. We, then, create the disconnect between who God really is and how we think of Him. We give Him a false reputation.
How does that affect us? We end up living under the impression that God is less than He really is. In our minds we create an inferior God.
How does that affect Him? Rom 3:3 What then? If some do not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God.
Just because we form an opinion that discounts the image of God in our minds, that doesn’t change who God is. My opinion is not the final word about God. Who He is, is far more solid than my fluid opinion of Him. God is known by facts. It’s the facts that tell us who He is and how He does what He does.
2Pet 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.
Glory speaks of who He is – that’s God’s identity. Glory means weight. It’s the impression God makes by being present. His foot prints walking with me. His fingerprints touching my circumstances. The weight of His power sitting on the throne.
Excellence is more than just what He does. It’s how He does what He does. Excellence is the quality within God’s work. God is good so all that He does is good.
In describing God’s glory and excellence, Peter says specifically: His own glory and excellence.
His own: uniquely one's own, peculiar to the individual. Stronger than simply the pronoun “his” implies. No one else is like our God. Nothing can compare to Him. He operates from a position of no one being higher, having greater authority or more power. His glory and excellence are uniquely His.
Isa 42:8 I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
This is what defines Him. Characteristics that are uniquely His: His glory and His excellence. It’s who He is and how He does what He does. It’s also explains why.
Ezek 36:22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD," declares the Lord GOD, "when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
How did they profane His name? By misrepresenting Him. Profaning comes from not treating Him as holy.
“I am uniquely the Lord. I will not be lumped into the category of religious deities. I will not conform to your idea of who I am. I am the one and only. And if I am unique, what I do is also unique. If you do not represent me as such, you do not know Me.”
So, if we’re guilty of profaning the name of God – misrepresenting Him, how do we change our perception of who He is? How do we remove the lies we believe and replace them with the truth?
We go back to character: The distinctive nature, the sum of the qualities that defines someone.
God spent thousands of years revealing His character for us. Scripture is story after story of encounters man has had with God and how God acted. His actions help us see who He is, revealed by what He has done. Again: Glory and Excellence.
He’s shown us: He is unique. There is no God like Him.
- He is omnipresent, infinite and omnipotent. God is everywhere, unlimited, and all-powerful. So, wherever we are, in whatever we face, God is with us with all His power and authority to operate in our best interest.
- He is eternal. God always has been and always will be.
- He is big enough for whatever He is attending to.
- He is the same and always will be.
- He is personal. It’s how He relates to us:
1. He is Loving and Good.
2. He is Faithful and Righteous.
3. He is Sovereign and Just.
4. He is Compassionate and Gracious.
5. He is Forgiving and Merciful.
6. He is Present and Available.
Who God is isn’t changed by what we think.
Who God is isn’t damaged by our doubts.
Who God is isn’t diminished by our beliefs or lack of them.
This is His glory. It’s who He is. We can’t change that. We can’t make God less than who He is. All we can do is honor Him.
So, if God’s purpose for our lives is to be where we are to be, when we are to be there, doing what we are to be doing, the way God wants it done, and doing it all for His glory, then the job behind our purpose is to express who He is and how He does what He does, by us being who we are and doing what we are to be doing.
As children of God, we live to reflect the glory of God. We shine out the characteristics of God so others may know who He is. So that, perhaps through us He might shine on someone else’s path to lead them out of darkness and into the Light. He might turn on the bulb in our lighthouse to keep someone from crashing into the rocks. What illuminates us might be the very light that shows them the way, the truth and the life.
Dan 12:3 Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
2Cor 4:6 For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
Lev 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. 2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD. 3 Then Moses said to Aaron, "It is what the LORD spoke, saying, 'By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.'" So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.
What were they doing? Creating a fire that reflected an inferior image of God. To them God wasn’t holy. By misrepresenting Him, they dishonored Him.
We are to be a reflection of God for people to see. We may be the first Bible someone ever reads. We may be the example they are looking at to see if all of this Christianity stuff really works. How we represent Him is how many will believe Him to be.
What do we do? Determine to know Him. How? Read His word – let the truth fill our minds and hearts with understanding. Decide to live the truth we know. Delight in Him for who He is and how He does what He does. Let God’s reputation be formed by the truth of His character.
TAKEAWAYS:
- Being God is a position designed for one person and we’re not that person.
- Letting God be God is a challenge we fight regularly.
- If our soul purpose is to honor Him as God, it would be best to have a good idea of who He is and how He does what He does.
- Having an inferior God leaves us without help and hope.
- Fortunately, our God is good and what He does is good.
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