I believe advertisements are evangelistic. I understand that they seem like nothing more than routine annoyances taking us away from our favorite TV shows for 30 seconds at a time, or littering up the magazine and website articles we are trying to read. But, I believe they can actually serve an important spiritual purpose. Unbeknownst to their creators, they point us to our Creator. They point us to Jesus, our Savior, if we have eyes to see Him.
You see, commercials advertise salvation in one form another every day. Listen carefully and you will hear it:
This pill will save you from whatever ails you, in body or mind. (Of course it may introduce a variety of new symptoms, but we’ll ignore that for now.)
This new car will save you from the shame of driving your old clunker, or the sluggishness of your 4 cylinder, or the weak towing capacity of your wimpy old truck.
This bed will save you from sleepless nights and back pain.
This airline can save you from your cabin fever and from the annoying bag fees of other airlines.(“Ding…You are now free to move about the country!”…Ring a bell?)
This food will save you from your hunger. (Think Olive Garden’s bottomless pasta bowl…and don’t forget the endless salad and breadsticks…Yum!)
This guy can save you from car problems; another guy can save you from a leaky faucet; and another guy can save you from clogged gutters.
You get the idea! Every commercial points us to a need for which there is some provision. Even within the prosperous United States, we cannot escape our perpetual needs. We live with lack and afflictions of all kinds. And we demand relief!
In reality, these external, circumstantial needs are echoes of internal, spiritual needs—if we have ears to hear. While we often live in a delusional state of self-sufficiency, the constant barrage of advertisements we see ought to remind us regularly that we have necessities—things we must have in order to survive. We are not independent creatures. We cannot sustain ourselves. We need resources from outside of ourselves in order to live. We need something or someone to come in and rescue us.
Spiritually speaking, the same thing is true. Apart from God’s grace, we are needy in profound ways. We are dead in trespasses and sins and destined for destruction (Rom 6:23; Eph 2:1). And there is nothing that we can do to rescue ourselves. Ultimately, this is the real cause of our discontentment and misery, not the fact that we don’t have the right pill, or the right car, or the right vacation destination.
Here’s the deal: The various products of our nation of good and plenty may be able to save us from our hunger, our boredom, our headache, our fever, even our cabin fever, but, they cannot save us from our sin! They cannot save us from the self-absorption, the anxiety, the anger, the fear, the lust, the greed, or the impatience of our fallen minds.
There is only one who can. His name is Jesus!
When announcing the impending arrival of the Son of God on earth, the angel excitedly instructed Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus for He shall save his people from their sins.” (Matt 1:21)
Salvation is Jesus name, and the reason He came. He has come to rescue us from our greatest need—our need for forgiveness and freedom from sin and death. Jesus is the solution!
And unlike the products endlessly displayed before us in man’s marketplace, this divine provision is absolutely free. There is no cost to us at all. He paid for everything, as advertised by Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus arrival:
Isaiah 55:1 “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”
Jesus came as the refreshment and savior of our souls…and He offers Himself to us without cost. Salvation is free. That’s not just good advertising, that’s good news!
So, the next time you see one of those annoying or enticing commercials, take a moment to reflect on your deepest need and the way it has been abundantly supplied by Jesus, your Maker and your Savior!