I’ve noticed that all marketing, in whatever medium it’s found, shows beautiful people, excessively happy, and in impeccable surroundings. They may have discovered the latest and greatest tech device, have just installed a premium, west coast, closet organization system, just come across the most desirable dipping sauce to make their friends green with envy, or the ultimate in room fresheners. Or they’ve just gotten a lead on the world’s best coffee – you get the picture. These messages are so prevalent, and seductive, that we rarely stop to consider how ridiculous and unlikely they are to deliver the ecstasy portrayed. But, for 10 or 15 seconds, we get to revel with our ‘friends’ as they squeal with delight. And we want that new window cleaning product, too. Badly. Right now. But with just a brief moment of reflection, we see through the shallowness of these promises, while acknowledging that the marketing team has been stellar in convincing us of our desperate, unfulfilled need. Job done. Check, please.
In a world awash with these undeliverable promises, it is understandable that one would look askance at God’s promises as well. How do we know He can be trusted to do what He says? Certainly, the Centuries of waiting between the Old and New Testaments could have given the Jews cause to doubt. And yet, we have available to us, God’s Word, consistent from beginning to end, plus the living testimony of Jesus himself, plus the two millennia of church history, plus the prophetic words which have come to fruition, plus our own personal lifetimes of experiencing the wild and woolly faithfulnesses of God.
It might be that we are so deluged with the propaganda of the ‘nations’ (not yet made pure, per Zephaniah chapter 3) that the pure, incorruptible Word of the Father has been lumped in with all the rest. And it might be that our hearing has been dulled with repeated exposure to the omnipresent ‘noise.’ Jesus called himself the Way, the Truth, and the Light. That pretty much places him front and center for us. More, he told us that no one would be able to come to the Father but by him. I think what we have in Jesus eclipses the most brilliant AI presentation, the most mind-blowing CGI, the most advanced marketing ploy. And it’s all delivered to us – in Jesus, with an eternal guarantee! I think I’ll return that magical window washing product now. PD
