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“Honk, or they won’t know we love Jesus!”

As a student of pop culture, and human nature, I am always amazed at how we “show” our faith.  As many know, I am not a big fan of what I call “jesus junk” – the garbage found at most Christian bookstores – you know what I mean, the little yellow pencils with smiley faces, or the note pads with little red heart, or the little fake “cell phones” filled with candy hearts and all of them have little stickers on it saying “Jesus Loves You.”  What amazes me is that people just don’t seem to know that you can pick up the same garbage in any discount store with “other” stickers on them.  Every time I see them I can picture three assembly lines at factory in China with child labor putting these stickers on one at a time – one, “Jesus Loves You” – two, “Eat At Bob’s,” three – “Shop at Sallies Discount Shop.”  Well, my latest “pet peeve” is all the “car junk” you can get.

I remember a few years back while we were living in New Jersey we were driving east on 80, heading to New York, when a van whipped by us.  As the van passed us I noticed the women who was driving was on a cell phone, not al all connected with the fact that she was driving.  As she passed, I also noticed the back end of her van was filled with “Jesus stickers” and “plastic fish.”  She even had one of those “plastic fish eating Darwin” fishy things on her car.  She must have been doing 90, because we were doing 70 and she whipped by.  As she passed us, my daughter was looking out the window and she noticed that the women had all the “Jesus junk” on her car.  As she passed, my daughter said, “look Daddy, she loves Jesus!”  My wife and I both smiled and commended her on her sharp eye.  Soon, the woman was well past us and we thought it was all just a memory.  As we started to get closer to the city, I noticed the women was pulled over and getting a ticket by the New Jersey Highway Patrol.  As we approached the van, my daughter perked up and looked out the window and said, “Look Daddy, that women is sharing Jesus with the Policeman!”

I’m not sure what was said, but I don’t think the women was wanting to share her faith, as much as she was trying to get out of a ticket.  It’s like the story of a child who, while at a stoplight, reached over and started to honk the horn.  The mother stopped the child and asked, “What are you doing.”  The child looked puzzled and said, “Mom, their sticker said ‘honk if you love Jesus.’  How would the know we love Jesus if we don’t honk our horn?”  Which leads me to the two understandings of “Jesus junk.”  The first is the Adult View and the second is the Child View.

The Adult View is where we see the bumper sticker and think it’s cool, while a Child View is that when they see it, they believe it.  Adults do not like to share their faith, so they spend millions on “Jesus junk” so they do not have to take the time to tell people about Jesus – after all, having a cool catchy bumper sticker will do so much more in sharing faith, then our silly words.  Children, on the other hand, have no problem with sharing their faith.  To a child, God is real, Jesus is real – and sharing their faith is central to the world around them.  We, as adults, are giving a mixed message to children when we display our “Jesus junk.”  We are telling children that sharing faith is important, but not in a personal way – but in a indifferent way.  We are saying, “Jesus is important, and I want to share with you – so, take this cute little note pad.”

Now, I will admit it may just be me, but how many people do you know who came to Jesus because they got a “Jesus Loves You” note pad?  I have never heard a testimony where the person says, “As I was depressed my friend gave me this pencil with ‘Jesus Loves You’ on it and I found a relationship with Jesus Christ.”  Jesus is not shared with bumper stickers, pencils, note pads, or any plastic fish.  Jesus is shred because you and I develop true and lasting friendships with people who are looking for the spiritual truth we as a community know.  People, to people is the say to share faith, not by plastic.  

john o'keefe is the founder/editor/publisher of ginkworld.  he has an mdiv from drew and several years experience as both a church planter and a senior pastor.