"Stop selling what you have ...

"Stop selling what you have, and start selling what they need. -- IBM"

I found this quote on Twitter, posted by Adrian Warnock.  Okay, honestly, I assume he's quoting something IBM said at one point, although I couldn't find it.  I googled it a bit, and found someone else quoting it a while back, saying its from an ad he saw by IBM.  Even knowing that, I couldn't track it down.  Nevertheless, it got me thinking, (which is something I do when people aren't talking to me).

The church needs to hear this, too.  We have been selling what we have, instead of what the world needs.  And what is it we have?  I guess it depends on where you live.  In America, we have an awful lot.  (Stress on the awful part.)  When I was in college, one of the "big things" circulating was the "Faith Movement," or Hyperfaith, or the name-it-and-claim-it people.  Basically, they said, God loves us and doesn't want to deny us anything.  So, if we pray with faith, God has to answer us, because of His nature and his promises.  "They say I need a shopping mall" mocked Steve Taylor.  I need a bigger house, or a Porsche.

But the world has these things.  It has all these things and more.  More than I can state here.  More than I can even imagine.  Things out of science fiction are popping up today.  The world has "gained the world", but it doesn't need them.

The world also doesn't need another testimony of what "God has done in my life."  Rock stars and movie actors saved from selfish and destructive lifestyles are powerful testimonies.  Then there are stories of kids raised in the midst of gang warfare and drugs, and come through it like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace.  God was able to preserve them from falling into that lifestyle, and they don't even smell like smoke.

These are stories from the Church, about the Church.  They are interesting and amusing, sometimes relevant and heart-rending.  But they aren't powerful.  We need to be witnesses to the life of Christ.  His life is the One that can change us.  These others are "effects" to His "cause."  He is the source of power and change.  

Jesus Christ is the exact image of God (Hebrews 1).  If we have seen Jesus, we have seen God (John 1).  His love, His power, His message, His words.  Jesus Christ is, in every aspect of His life, God.  The story of His life demands people make a choice:  believe and be saved, or reject Him and remain in their damnation.

My life makes no such demands.  These are stories about me.  I hope you laugh with me, and have fun with me.  But you don't need me.  The world doesn't need me.  I can offer myself as a friend, or a co-worker, or an anonymous voice online.  But my life has no inherent power in it.

Christ's life is the Gospel.  It is "good news" for all people.  It is powerful.

We have stories, and they need power.

It is the Gospel of Christ Jesus that changes lives, not our anecdotes.