License plate: "I'm a God-chaser." (Actually, it didn't have a hyphen, but I felt it needed one, and by golly, if it's going in my blog, it's going to be correctly punctuated!)
My response: "So...is He running away?" (I don't recall my Bible saying anything about the eternal chase: man after God. The way I see it, it's more a "God chasing man" sort of deal. We were morons; He sent His Son to redeem us and establish His kingdom on earth; we have a choice to follow or not to follow, but He's not trying to elude us. If anything, we are the ones trying to run from Him. Feel free to correct me if I'm missing something.)
All that to say this: It amazes me how many times people say or do things in order to look or feel spiritual, but these things are not well thought out, and the people just end up looking kinda silly. I'm saying there's anything wrong with being a person who follows God, or for that matter, a person who advertises it. But think it through, people. Say it well, or don't say it at all.
And while we're on the subject, maybe you should ask yourself these questions: Are you just posing, or is your statement really real? Does your life (or your driving) reflect your license plate? Because if not, what is the point?
2 comments:
Jai,
Don't be mean. You remember the book God Chasers by Jim Cymbal (or something). The saying/point of the book is a heart that followers hard after God. It's a fight for me, personally, I can talk to God like He's family to me, but I don't talk to Him everyday. Maybe the the license plate serves as a reminder for the driver to talk to talk God. It could be a personal icon. But you are quite right. I don't like putting fish symbols or anything on my car. What if I'm behaving like a brat - that doesn't help God any.
I'm not trying to diminish the personal effect that the license plate likely had on its owner. I'm just saying that if he was using the statement as a personal reminder, he'd put it somewhere where he'd see it repeatedly--a screensaver or a note on the bathroom mirror or something. Placing that statement on the outside of your vehicle means that you're intending to show it to others, and I'm just saying that unless the viewer is "churched," it's not going to make very much sense. And that sort of thing bugs me...when we get ourselves into speaking Christian-eze where we know what we mean but no one else does. How does that communicate a clear and coherent message?
I'm not trying to be mean; I was simply approaching the statement as I think an average intelligent unbeliever would. And if you take that statement as it stands, apart from any particular book context (I haven't read the book, anyway), I think logic reduces it to what I said in my original post.
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