Messages

Have you seen the GAP commercial that has been running recently for the "holiday" season, not the one with the girls singing about boots, but the one with adults singing and dancing? Maybe it is just the prude coming out in me again (see my post from 2 weeks ago) but I don't think so, I have seen it several times now and it really bothers me.

If you are not familiar with the commercial, here are a couple of lines in the "song" that are sung after they list just about every possible winter holiday and/or celebration (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Solstice);

"You 86 the rules, you do what just feels right, you do whatever you want and to all a good night"

Does that rub you the wrong way like it does me? Do we really need to be encouraged to forget about the rules and just do whatever we want, whatever feels right? Don't we do that enough as it is? Isn't that what has caused EVERY problem we have in this world? We do our own thing too much and it leads to; hurt, pain, frustration, anger, sadness, etc.

I was a marketing major in college, so I understand not wanting to limit advertising just to people who celebrate Christmas. In fact, I have no problem whatsoever with Target, WalMart, Macys, etc. advertising holiday sales instead of Christmas sales and with them instructing their employees to say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. These retailers exist to sell things and it is legitimate business to not exclude portions of the population. What does bother me are the messages that are put out like the one above from the GAP in an attempt to be inclusive of everyone (at least I think that is what they are trying to do).

We receive hundreds, even thousands of messages a day all trying to tell us something, trying to impact how we see things. I think most people are oblivious to these messages, they take them in and it shapes their thinking without even knowing it. I am trying to be more sensitive to God and what He wants for me and often times it is a struggle to choose what He wants instead of what I want or have been told I should want or should have. The Bible says that we are to be in the world but not of the world. That means that we are to live here, have relationships here, be salt and light here, but, we are not to think like the world thinks or act like the world acts. Pay attention to the messages that are being given to you and filter them through what the Bible says.