What ever happened to being a just a Christ follower?

I am on a plane going across the ocean. One of the things that one does on such long journeys is to take a peak what other people are reading. I guess I am guilty. The lady next to me is working. She is a business woman and she has just been to a marketing conference on “branding”. She is coming up with some ways she can “brand” the product of the company she is working for. So I am borrowing this idea from her. Thanks.

This thought led to another one and it led me back to the 1980s when Russ Taff (who was then a cutting edge Christian Singer who would now qualify as adult contemporary) had a song that went something like this: “I don’t care what label you may wear but if you belong to Jesus then you belong with me”. I have liked that song for years though I must admit I do not listen to it much now. It struck a chord with me then and it still does today.

We attend an international church in Madrid on Sunday mornings that is one of the most incredible sights that I have witnessed. Every Sunday people from all over the world come together to worship. Africans, Asians, Spaniards, Americans, Northern Europeans and the list could go on and on and on. Sometimes I get the chance to speak there and every time I am awestruck as I stand up and look out over the 250 plus people who are there and I get a glimpse of what heaven will be like. A glimpse of seeing people from every tribe and nation worshipping together. I know from my past and the background in which I come from that you would rarely see anyone who looked different than us in our worship services. In reading a biography of Russ Taff this prejudice (spoken or unspoken ) that is in the church today was what inspired him to write “We Will Stand”.

ALSO, I think we often try to brand our denominations and make our particular denomination (you can fill in the blank on which one you put in the blank, we are almost all guilty) the best or the only one. Now I am not saying that all religions are the same. They are not. Religions are belief sets such as Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism. Then we have the cults and sects like Mormons, JWs, etc.. Then we have Christianity. We basically have Roman Catholicism, Greek Orthodox and Protestants that would fit into that category. I realize I am painting some pretty broad strokes but hang with me for a moment. I recognize there are differences even further in Protestants such as Evangelicals and Ecumenical. Then we have the different types such as Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptist, Church of God and this list would go on further then your interest in this blog would allow.

No, my concern is that we make a BIG deal out of things that do not have to be so. We become much too preoccupied with what someone is rather than who they are. I personally do not like the labels. My point is not about belonging to a denomination or not. I belong to one myself. What I am trying to say is that we often get far too hung up on these things and when we do we start making big deals out of small things and we forget who we are and what we are trying to become and that is a mature follower of Christ and not a just a Baptist, Methodist or Presbyterian. I know this is old news and worn out but it is a message I need to remind myself of from time to time. I want to focus more on becoming a Christ follower and living my life on a daily basis following him and being led by the Holy Spirit than worrying about labels that people put on each other.