Protect Your Brand

Colossians 4:5
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

Amplified Bible
Conduct yourself with wisdom in your interactions with outsiders (non-believers), make the most of each opportunity [treating it as something precious].

Contemporary English Version
When you are with unbelievers, always make good use of the time.

Good News Translation
Be wise in the way you act toward those who are not believers, making good use of every opportunity you have.

New Living Translation
Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.

In business, we sell goods or services. Those goods and services have to be made attractive so the customers can prefer them over those offered by our competitors. As a seller, you package your goods or services in a certain manner that will make them unforgettable and attractive. You make your goods or services distinct and different from others and that is the brand. When you offer transport services you package it in a way that the customer will appreciate and never forget. The brand has to do with the name, design, and uniqueness of your product. If you sell bread, you give it a unique presentation to the market that will make it attractive, distinct, better, unforgettable, and desirable. The aim of branding is to sell. Therefore you need to protect your brand!

If you sell without a brand, buyers will have no reason to come to you if anyone else is as good as you. Branding will make customers prefer you over any other. Branding is about having a competitive edge over those you are competing with. Therefore you must protect your brand!

We protect the brand so that the market remains interested in it. We protect a brand because competitors would want to challenge our claims. We protect our brand from copying. We protect our brand from being misunderstood. We protect our brand to keep it at the top. Protecting a brand is a continuous activity in business. Protect your brand!

Christianity is like a business. Our aim is to win people into Christianity from other faiths and from lack of faith. Christianity must remain unique and attractive and a better option or else no one has reason to leave their faith to join this faith. Christianity must be seen as a brand and we must protect our brand!

In our text today, Apostle Paul tells the church of the Colossians that they must be careful in the way they deal with those who are not Christians. Those who are not Christians are our customers, so to speak. Be careful how you deal with potential customers. Be careful, be wise, be sensitive because we have a brand to protect. As you deal with potential converts be sensitive that they do not find a reason in you to reject Christianity. Paul tells the entire church to protect the Christian brand!

Paul tells the church that they must continuously make Christianity attractive to non-believers. Do not be the reason why someone would refuse any association with Christianity. Do not be the reason why someone would never be converted. Do not be the reason why Christianity would be seen as fake and no better. Protect your brand!

If non-believers are your roommates in a school hostel, be careful. If they offend you, how do you respond? That will give them an impression of what it means to be a Christian. What stories would you tell in that room? Would you be narrating your escapades in sinful ventures, yet the next day you walk majestically to worship? Won’t they see you as fake? When you pick a phone and abuse the person you are talking to, would they be attracted to Christianity? When dealing with non-believers, be wise, be careful, do not give them a reason to reject this faith. Protect your brand!

If non-believers are your domestic workers, you are the brand that they will study and decide whether Christianity is worth it. If you have colleagues who are not of faith, you are the brand of Christianity. When you are studied, watched, listened to and interacted with, does Christianity remain attractive? Or does it come out as fake and only packaged as good but deep within is poisonous and failing to deliver what it promises? Protect your brand!

When we preach, no sexual immorality, do non-believers see you in suspicious places with suspicious people doing activities that by all means are most likely sexual immorality? What would they think of our brand of no sexual immorality? Be conscious even in secret or private, someone is watching. Protect your brand! If we Christians are not corrupt, as a government official, when you ask for bribes or you favor people of your tribe and race, then tomorrow we discover you are an active church leader, would we be attracted to that church? Protect your brand!

If you are a religious leader, how are you presenting this Christianity brand? Will those who know you well and interact with you get attracted to the Christian faith or you leave a bitter taste in the mouth? Do you apply the same principles that you preach and teach in your life? The Bible tells us today that we should protect our brand. A teacher in class is observed longest by students. Would your students ever want to be of your faith? Protect your brand. If you are a boss or employer, would those who are answerable to you ever get attracted to your faith in God? Protect your brand! If you are a parent and your children observe you throughout life and they observe how you relate as parents, would they ever see Christianity as a better option? Protect your brand!

All believers are the packaging of the product and are also the product. All believers are on the shelves of life and non-believers are studying us in order to decide whether to buy or not buy. Do not be the reason why someone will never choose to be a believer. Protect your brand!

One way to protect your brand is to be true to what you believe. Be convinced and live by it. Do not speak of God’s power then you visit witch doctors. You would have ruined the brand in the eyes of the witch doctor who is a potential client of the church. Study your beliefs prayerfully, put them in practice and live by them. Another way is to be consistent in who you are both in church and outside the church, publicly and privately. When you do that, the brand is safe. Protect your brand!

Each believer has a God-given responsibility to protect the Christianity brand. If anyone abandons faith or refuses to become a Christian because of you, God will hold you guilty and accountable for that life forever. It is not optional but compulsory that we must protect this brand by all means.

Apart from Christianity, your life too is a brand. How is your personal brand? Are you sellable as a reliable good person or people must handle you like they handle harmful products? Do you come with a warning, “Contains short temper,” “Contains foul language”? How is your personal brand? Could the way you have packaged yourself be the reason why you are lonely this many years later? Could your branding be the reason why people who come into your life leave suddenly? Could your brand be the reason for your frequent transfers? Could your brand be the reason why you are not making progress? Are you so interested in what you want and you ruthlessly deal with other people and drive them away? Think about your brand, review it, improve it and protect it.

How does your social media accounts present your brand? Your personal brand and Christianity brand? Are you one thing on social media and something else in reality? If your social media activities were used to determine whether you get a business would you get it? If your social media accounts were used to determine if you would get a job, would you get it? Protect your brand!

God of heaven, our personal brands are not doing so well, give us wisdom to properly brand ourselves. Grant us grace to protect the Christianity brand and champion it wherever we go, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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