Pay Attention to the Decals
You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. 3You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
(2 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Sam Bass may not be a name you recognize right off the bat, but chances are you’ve seen his art work numerous times. He began his career in art somewhere around the age of six or seven. He always had a love for race cars - so much so that his parents would often buy him those little Hot Wheels toy cars from the toy store. Upon receiving them, Sam would tear open the boxes and then tear off all the wheels and start to repaint the bodies. When his mom complained and asked him why he was doing it, he’d say, “Mom I want them to look the way I want them to look.” Apparently, his fastidious attitude towards race cars has served him fairly well. Bass’s passion for the excitement and the color of racing fueled his desire to excel in a field that wasn’t even in existence before he put his hand to it. Today as NASCAR’S preeminent car artist, Sam has designed over 350 paint schemes for drivers like Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon. He calls them his “200mph paintings.” And works of art they are. When you’re dealing with a vehicle that costs 15-20 million dollars to sponsor, you don’t just slap any paint job on it. With the popularity of NASCAR and the sizable viewing audience it commands, advertising on the cars is at a high premium. Even though race fans only see the cars for a few seconds as they flash by, television cameras will follow the cars around the race track lap after lap, thus enabling drivers to charge premium prices for every square inch of paint on their car. And when a NASCAR competitor wants his/her car painted, Sam is the man to call. Sam is known world wide for his unique ability to combine dynamic color schemes with the numerous logos and advertising that adorn NASCAR vehicles. You can believe that he works in an extremely lucrative venue. Every surface on these vehicles that can be clearly seen by the camera becomes a billboard for some potential sponsor. The hood and rear quarter panels can cost as high as 20 million dollars. Decal placement on the smaller, lower rear quarter panels can run upwards of half a million dollars. It’s arguably the most expensive advertising space in the world.
The quality of Sam Bass’s work is seen world wide every time there is a NASCAR race. You can bet every inch is meticulously inspected before it is released for public viewing. It would be unthinkable to have a paint job go out the door that had runs or air bubbles or some other oversight in it. When something is watched as closely as NASCAR racing, nothing would be allowed that could compromise the integrity of the message on the car.
Paul says in the passage above that our Christian life is the same. “You are our letter…known and read by everybody.” In other words, we are all walking billboards for the reality and quality of the Christian life. We are walking, living advertisements for the Lord. Speaking to his brothers and sisters in the Corinthian Church Paul says, “I don’t have a better way of advertising the love of Christ than you. I don’t need an eloquent piece of literature. I don’t need a strongly worded sermon. I don’t a finely worded book. What I need to advertise Jesus – is you. You are it. You are the living proof of the transforming power of Jesus Christ.”
Words written with ink can fade away. Words written with ink are silent. Words written with ink just sit there until someone comes along to read it. But you - you are a living letter - written not with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God. In other words, in every situation, in every circumstance, with every person – the Holy Spirit of God is using you to advertise the love of Jesus Christ to someone else. Many years ago, prior to the arrival of Jesus, Almighty God revealed His will by writing his law on tablets of stone. But now he uses a different way to advertise his will for our lives. He writes on human hearts. The ink he uses is the Holy Spirit. And you and I are the nothing more than the postman – delivering a message of grace, deliverance, forgiveness, love and mercy to the world in which we live. Because Jesus lives within you – you are a work of art.
The question is what kind of message are we advertising? The whole world is watching. So pay close attention to the decals attached to your life. Don’t let anything go out the door that compromises the clarity of the message. Do you portray Christ in your attitudes and your reactions to circumstances and to others? Do you properly portray what a Christian’s life should be, or are people disappointed with what they hear and how you act? Make sure your life is a letter worth reading. God designed you for the purpose of displaying his love to the world. Pay very close attention to the decals in your life.
Live the Victorious Life,
PT
(2 Corinthians 3:2-3)
Sam Bass may not be a name you recognize right off the bat, but chances are you’ve seen his art work numerous times. He began his career in art somewhere around the age of six or seven. He always had a love for race cars - so much so that his parents would often buy him those little Hot Wheels toy cars from the toy store. Upon receiving them, Sam would tear open the boxes and then tear off all the wheels and start to repaint the bodies. When his mom complained and asked him why he was doing it, he’d say, “Mom I want them to look the way I want them to look.” Apparently, his fastidious attitude towards race cars has served him fairly well. Bass’s passion for the excitement and the color of racing fueled his desire to excel in a field that wasn’t even in existence before he put his hand to it. Today as NASCAR’S preeminent car artist, Sam has designed over 350 paint schemes for drivers like Bobby Allison, Dale Earnhardt, and Jeff Gordon. He calls them his “200mph paintings.” And works of art they are. When you’re dealing with a vehicle that costs 15-20 million dollars to sponsor, you don’t just slap any paint job on it. With the popularity of NASCAR and the sizable viewing audience it commands, advertising on the cars is at a high premium. Even though race fans only see the cars for a few seconds as they flash by, television cameras will follow the cars around the race track lap after lap, thus enabling drivers to charge premium prices for every square inch of paint on their car. And when a NASCAR competitor wants his/her car painted, Sam is the man to call. Sam is known world wide for his unique ability to combine dynamic color schemes with the numerous logos and advertising that adorn NASCAR vehicles. You can believe that he works in an extremely lucrative venue. Every surface on these vehicles that can be clearly seen by the camera becomes a billboard for some potential sponsor. The hood and rear quarter panels can cost as high as 20 million dollars. Decal placement on the smaller, lower rear quarter panels can run upwards of half a million dollars. It’s arguably the most expensive advertising space in the world.
The quality of Sam Bass’s work is seen world wide every time there is a NASCAR race. You can bet every inch is meticulously inspected before it is released for public viewing. It would be unthinkable to have a paint job go out the door that had runs or air bubbles or some other oversight in it. When something is watched as closely as NASCAR racing, nothing would be allowed that could compromise the integrity of the message on the car.
Paul says in the passage above that our Christian life is the same. “You are our letter…known and read by everybody.” In other words, we are all walking billboards for the reality and quality of the Christian life. We are walking, living advertisements for the Lord. Speaking to his brothers and sisters in the Corinthian Church Paul says, “I don’t have a better way of advertising the love of Christ than you. I don’t need an eloquent piece of literature. I don’t need a strongly worded sermon. I don’t a finely worded book. What I need to advertise Jesus – is you. You are it. You are the living proof of the transforming power of Jesus Christ.”
Words written with ink can fade away. Words written with ink are silent. Words written with ink just sit there until someone comes along to read it. But you - you are a living letter - written not with ink but by the Spirit of the Living God. In other words, in every situation, in every circumstance, with every person – the Holy Spirit of God is using you to advertise the love of Jesus Christ to someone else. Many years ago, prior to the arrival of Jesus, Almighty God revealed His will by writing his law on tablets of stone. But now he uses a different way to advertise his will for our lives. He writes on human hearts. The ink he uses is the Holy Spirit. And you and I are the nothing more than the postman – delivering a message of grace, deliverance, forgiveness, love and mercy to the world in which we live. Because Jesus lives within you – you are a work of art.
The question is what kind of message are we advertising? The whole world is watching. So pay close attention to the decals attached to your life. Don’t let anything go out the door that compromises the clarity of the message. Do you portray Christ in your attitudes and your reactions to circumstances and to others? Do you properly portray what a Christian’s life should be, or are people disappointed with what they hear and how you act? Make sure your life is a letter worth reading. God designed you for the purpose of displaying his love to the world. Pay very close attention to the decals in your life.
Live the Victorious Life,
PT
posted by Larry | 5:17 PM
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