In the world of luxury goods – handbags, shoes, clothing – there’s a massive and thriving business in creating and peddling knockoffs. Imitations of famous brands using their branding and marketing themselves as though they were the genuine article.

Now personally I’m not much into luxury goods. It’s never made sense to me to pay thousands of dollars for a handbag or a pair of shoes. But from a commercial perspective, these knockoffs as their they’re called, are a deceptive misrepresentation of the truth. Which is why, in most countries, they’re illegal.

And in any case, the cheap imitations end up not lasting the distance, not doing the job in the way that the genuine, more expensive ones do.

So the upshot? Misrepresentation is not a pretty thing. It’s not something that you or I like to be on the receiving end of. And that’s why Christians who misrepresent Christ are such a problem. We misrepresent Him when we wear His name, but not His character.

Galatians 3:26,27 You were all baptised into Christ, and so you were all clothed with Christ. This shows that you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Might I ask you, if you believe in Jesus, are you “clothed in Christ”? Is your nature, your character, a lot like Jesus or not? When people experience you … for them, is it like interacting with Jesus or the devil? Our answers to those questions matter … a lot.

Because it’s the knockoff Christians who use His branding – the cheap imitations who misrepresent Christ – who act as a barrier, a stumbling block … dare I say, a repellent … that keep people from knowing Jesus for themselves.

Christians, clothe yourselves in Christ!

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.