Christian Bumper Stickers
We are doing it wrong!
People have lots of opinions these days and many share their ideas, beliefs and prejudices for everyone to see on their cars bumper. I have a few choice things to say but I don’t think my bumper is big enough. Thank God for Substack!
I seem to get stuck in traffic a lot lately and have been thinking about bumper stickers….i mean…I’m there literally stuck in traffic with nothing better to do. I have a couple on my car. Not the old fashioned stickers like my dad had that were near impossible to remove but the new magnetic type. Yep, just slap them on and they stay there, Don’t like them, no problem, they just peel right off. Wanna move them around? Easy peasy!
My two bumper stickers are for my church, Fellowship Church in Rotonda and my favorite radio station the JoyFM. Nothing political, yet… as I was sitting in traffic I thought about my stickers….i though about traffic….i have a lot to say about traffic and human nature in general and most my observations are not especially Christian like. I really struggle to maintain a Christian disposition when in stuck in bumper to bumper traffic for 15, 20, sometimes 40+ minutes and some jackass wants to bypass everything and get in front of me! How dare they! Right?
Even though it rubs a raw nerve, the Christian thing to do is show grace and patience and compassion….its a struggle for me. Many times my actions are less than Christ like. I maneuver my car, block them…maybe even give them the one finger salute……. So they get in line behind me….what do they see? My Christian bumpers stickers. Yea, I’m that kind of Christian! It’s no wonder people have such a low opinion of the church and of Christians. As we go through our daily lives, is this the side of Christianity that many see?
Christians need to face the reality. Do people only see our Christianity when we are at our worst? How do we change that? Well, we can start by removing the bumper stickers….that way people won’t know we are Christian’s when we treat them poorly. That would work right? It would but I don’t ever recall it saying in the Bible to hide our faith, to deny God.
We are human as well as Christian. We will have bad days…..but let’s get back to bad driving habits and bumper stickers. We need to look at our messaging as well as our habits. I should be more kind to extra assertive drivers…I’m not happy with them but I still need to show grace to them. But, always the but…..but if I let them in front….they win…,their bad behavior is reinforced…I’m being a sucker if I give in….well yea. I’m going to paraphrase here so don’t beat me up, Jesus taught His apostles that to be first, they must be last. That they should seek to be least and servant to all.
But if, I let them in front then they won’t get to see my nifty Christian bumper stickers….. that’s ok, they see the kindness (I hope). They see peace where there was animosity, tension, anxiety. As Christian’s we need to turn things around. Put those stickers on the front of the car so everyone we surrender our right of way to sees the message. Surrender to God, seek to serve others, surrender our “rights” on the road to demonstrate compassion and humility.
One last thought, maybe print the stickers backwards. Yep print them in reverse so when we do let the (expletive) driver in front, they can actually read the stickers in their rear view mirror……..
While that’s a cool idea for stickers, this really isn’t just about stickers is it?
So yea. The bumper sticker is a metaphor about Christianity in general. How often do we rely on simple brainless methods to share our faith like the bumper stickers?
We live in a fallen world with imperfect people and we need to show them grace and reflect Gods light well. So how, do we reach imperfect people? How do we craft our message so that it’s understandable? Just like the backwards bumper sticker we need to look at what hurts and what helps.
Most likely, the asshole trying to cut you off is also a Christian. Before I retired, for 36 years, I drove 1.3million miles, all hiway. It took a million miles before I was woke to the this old Buddhist idea: if we are in a boat and an empty boat rams us we think nothing of it, but if that other boat has someone in it, we fly into a rage. I learned that if I just breath in and out and back off about ten car lengths and let the assholes do there thing, they won't stay long, because they will move on. That's what they do. Then trying real hard to understand that maybe the asshole is just some frantic person running late for an appointment. Anyway, by backing off I separate myself, and no drama arises in my mind.