No, the use of the word of God is not my biggest pet peeves; it is, in fact, the LACK of use of God’s word that makes me mad. And I am reminded of this pet peeve almost every time I pass a church marquee.
So you don’t speak French and you want to know what I mean by the word “marquee”? “Marquee” is the fancy word I use for church signs. You know…the ones you pass on your way to and from work every day that have these “clever” sayings on them, as well as perhaps church services times or which gospel group is singing at that church 3 months from now.
I pass by several marquees when I drive down the main road that connects to our neighborhood. I am always amazed at what I see. A big beautiful sign on the side of the road that has the ability to captivate passersby with words of faith and encouragement, words of wisdom and consolation, or with words of praise and grandeur.
Companies pay hundreds of dollars a month to advertise their wares on billboards in every city, so there must be a reason that they fork over incredible amounts of money per year to sign companies – probably because the words on them (if properly crafted into an offer and a call to action) work!
So what do most of the church marquees that I see say? Let’s see. Here is a list of a few I have seen over the years:
- Soul food served here
- Forbidden fruit creates many jams
- CH CH What is misssing? UR
- God answers kneemail
- Try Jesus…if you don’t like him, the devil will always take you back
Those are some off the top of my head. There are many more, but it pains me to try to remember them all. You get the picture.
Now don’t get me wrong. These are definitely well thought-out sayings and they CAN be attention-getters. But there is one thing that they are not. They aren’t the word of God. Kind of reminds me of what Elijah the prophet said to the king of Israel when the king was seeking advice from another god:
“Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” (2 Kings 1:3 NLT)
If I could ask a question is to the ones who are responsible for putting these messages on church signs around the country I would ask a similar quesiton:
“Is it because there are no good Bible verses that you resort to putting cute little sayings on your signs?”
Maybe I am a little old-fashioned, but I can’t help but remember a Bible verse that I learned long ago:
“Is not my Word like a fire?…and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
You see, God’s word is powerful. It has the ability to pierce someone’s thinking, to permeate a mixed-up mind, and to soothe a troubled soul. Jesus said it best when he said that his words were “spirit” and that they were “life.”
Hebrews 4:12 says that God’s word is “alive and powerful” (NLT). I believe that OUR job is to give someone a word…and not just ANY word….but THE WORD. That’s where our work ends. That’s all we can do.
Next, we should rely on the Spirit of God to do the rest. Why not use one of the many thousands of verses (perhaps translated into a version that the average person can understand since most of us didn’t take Elizabethan English in High School) and then let God do the rest. I, for one, would sure be grateful, but I can think of many more people that would be effected positively as well.
