I am not very skilled when it comes to manual work. At least I know how to change a light bulb. Ok, it’s not that bad. I can put a shelf on the wall and it will be horizontal and not come off. And of course I know how to set up furniture. In the time of IKEA and friends that has to be called a survival skill. And for all of that I have tools. And one of the tools I need the most is a screwdriver. But after putting in a gazillion screws (if not more) I decided that I need a power tool.

In the 19th century in the wake of the industrial revolution Great Brittan was flooded with cheap knock offs from Germany. (Can you imagine? Germany [sic!] was Europe’s China.) For an upright Englishman it was often impossible to distinguish the native products of high quality from the low quality copies from central Europa. Facing that dilemma the British government decided in 1887 to pass the Merchandise Marks Act that forced all goods to by labeled with the country of origin. The famous “Made in…” was born. Now the good could be separated from the bad. Unfortunately the law came some 25 years to late. The Germans had discovered that it was far better to make the high quality products they are now known for. So instead of labeling imports as something bad and not noteworthy the Britons learned quickly that “Made in Germany” was written on the good stuff. The initial intend of the government had backfired.

By now we live in a time where more or less all products are marked with “Made in” followed by the name of a central Asian country like Taiwan, China, Korea and so on. Nowadays it is more important who made something than where it was made. That is the reason brands have a marked value. In 2014 for example the company Millward Brown estimated the value of the name Google to be almost 160 billion dollars. In 2013 Apple was the leading brand with a value over 185 billion dollars (that was pretty much their entire revenue in 2014). It doesn’t matter anymore where it was made as long as it has the right logo.

So when I started looking for a suitable power tool I focused on brands. I found a nice tool from a good company and I am very happy with it. No more muscle ache from screwing, at least as long as the tool is charged. And even before I got my tool I knew it was good. Simply because I know the brand. That is the way it works today. Or is it?

In 1883 after the Germans had discovered how to be great engineers a company was founded that should become one of the biggest electronics companies in the world. AEG. All went well but eventually AEG had to close shop in 1982, was bought by Daimler and the rights for using the brand were sold to the Swedish company Electrolux. And now everybody who wishes to can produce stuff under the brand of AEG as long as they pay a license fee. That totally destroys the value and idea of the brand. Because who knows if the real company behind the product is a good one or not? (Ok, they are probably mediocre at best. Otherwise they would use their own brand.) So products from AEG can be a trap. Just because it used to be a good German brand does not mean in the least that your new tool is any good at all.

Sometimes I wonder if that is not the same with Christians. Somehow we are running around with the label “Jesus”. (I don’t just mean bumper stickers.) When people get to know me they will sooner or later discover that I am a Christian. (An atheist friend of mine once introduced me by saying “He is a fundamental Christian.”) And in a way the folks around us start trying to figure out what kind of Christian we are. Is he just a facade or is he living what he is saying? And I know it can put us under pressure to behave well. But I think it is actually a good thing. Because it means that they are thinking about Christianity. They have a picture in their mind and now they want to see if you fit in. In a way they want to find out if the product has the advertised quality.

It is a little bit difficult for me to understand what people are thinking when they check out Christians. But from reactions I have seen I would deduce that there are two different cases. In the first situation their expectations are either too low or spot on. In the second we don’t come close to what they thought. But again both cases have two possibilities each.

Let’s say I buy two tools. One no-name and one from a good brand. I the cheap one falls apart it meets my expectations. I knew it was cheap and that’s what I got. The expensive one on the other hand has to be doing great to mirror my anticipation. And somehow only the bad one has a chance to surprise me. The other one is supposed to be perfect anyway. So just because something is as expected doesn’t mean that it’s good. The other cases are a supposedly great product that turns out to be bad and a bad one that is even worse. Even though the last case is possible in theory I hardly expect anything good from the cheap stuff. I don’t leave a lot of room to be worse. (That way it has a good chance of surprising me.) From all these possibilities I actually only like one. A high quality product that is as perfect as I thought.

And that is what I would love Christians to be like. The Britons learned that “Made in Germany” was the great stuff and we should teach the people around us to have high expectations when it comes to Christians. And then we should meet and surpass these expectations time and time again. Because ultimately it is all about the brand. We Christians have to reveal the greatness of Christ.