A couple weeks ago, my wife and I were shopping in Bed Bath and Beyond (or “Bed Bath and Beyond My Budget” as quibbled by a patient at the office I work for), spending a bit of that newlywed gift card money, when a sudden urge overtook me.  

The need “to go.”  

Not being one who has any problem with the frequent use of public restrooms, I made a b-line back to the front of the store where the Men’s room is located.  If I’m honest, there is this strange little part of me that enjoys checking out public restrooms.  

(Giving you time to gross-out and make faces…)

Yes, I admit it is not normal to enjoy anything about a public restroom.  More times than not, they are vile, disgusting places that I don’t relish being in long enough to relieve myself.  Suffice it  to say, I don’t usually expect a whole lot when I visit one.  However, every once and a while, I happen upon an undiscovered jewel.  A diamond in the rough (for all those who enjoy a good cliché).  A Kohl’s or a Zaxby’s, where the room that is the most hated and detested among all rooms is all of the sudden transformed into the object of envy.  The rooms where, instead of feeling like running away, you feel like pulling up a chair and relaxing.  Amazing examples of what cleanliness, decor and good taste can merit.  The rooms where I sit back and say, “That is a bathroom.  Not a hole.  Not a funky, stinky nightmare.  But a beautiful room that welcomes it’s guests.  I want a bathroom like that in my house!”  Those are the ones I look for.  Not the ones I expect, but the ones I look for.

Pushing open the door in front of me, I was ready to see if I had uncovered yet another gem.  Another place I could feel comfy if I needed to “do my business.”  Instead, I found laid out before me a scene that completely took me aback… 

Blandness.

And I’m talking elementary-school-bathroom bland.  Sterile, cold greys and whites with no touches of color or decoration aside from a five by three rug.  Nothing.  Barren.  Weird.

This was , after all, Bed Bath and Beyond, right?

Now, I’m no Trading Spaces master or decor whiz.  As a matter of fact, I’m partially red/green color blind and I’m a guy, so you can do the math.  My point is, while I obviously enjoy a well decorated space, I am by no means an expert in the field.  My decorating taste works something like this:

“I like that.  I don’t like that.  That looks good.  That’s ugly.”

Those are my technical terms and my level of understanding of room decor.  A real pro.

However, I could not deny my initial reaction to the room.  It was bland and it really bothered me.  Why?  The bathroom was clean and functional.  It worked.  It wasn’t nasty.  It didn’t stink.  Toilet, sink, paper, soap…good to go.  I didn’t habitually expect much in a restroom anyway, right?

I suppose the reason I was so upset over this was the fact that I was in Bed Bath and Beyond.  In the title of this store, displayed in five foot letters, was the word Bath.  This leads me to believe this is one of their specialities.  The bathroom is a specific place they outfit.  The bathroom is key to their sales.  The bathroom is one of the two central rooms to this store’s success.  Shouldn’t theirs be awesome?  Shouldn’t it be mind-blowingly sweet?  As a Bed Bath and Beyond bathroom, shouldn’t you be showing us all what our bathrooms could be?  Should be?

But it didn’t.  It didn’t live up to my pre-formed expectations.  It didn’t do what I expected.  It did, however, manage to let me down, and that fact provoked some immediate reactions and questions in me.

 Do I have a sign, an ad or title I put out there for people to see?  Do you?  Christian.  Jesus Follower.  Church-goer.  Believer.  Saved.  Blessed.  Child of God.

What do those titles say about me?  What are those looking at me expecting to find when they encounter me because of those titles?

Oh, sure, the easy, Sunday School answer is, “Jesus.  They should be seeing Jesus living in me.”  And that’s a good and right answer, but is it true?  When people look at me and are around me, do they encounter Jesus at all?  Do they sense his extravagant love and remarkable grace when they are around me?  Do I solicit hope and peace or do self-centeredness and aggravation spew out in my interactions?  

These are tough questions, but real nonetheless.  

When people hear that I am “one of those Christians,” do they expect love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, goodness and self control, only to be hit with bitterness, arrogance, pride and self-seeking motives?  Are they caught up in the hope that I could possibly have something obscure to offer them that might be awesome and life-changing because I follow Jesus?  Do they find it when they speak to me?  Or do they feel the intense let down of false advertisement?  Are they hoping to open the door and find something incredible behind the facade of “Jesus Follower” only to be disappointed at the real interior?  Do my labels give off the impression that I’m one thing while the inner working of my heart and mind show me to be another?  One less desirable and less like Jesus?

Hard questions, but one’s that we need to ask.  These aren’t questions I can answer all at once and they aren’t ones anyone can answer for me…or for you.  We have to look in and decide if our outsides align with our insides.  Do we live out all the things we say we do?  Are our church communities places where people find Jesus or places where people find us acting like we know Jesus more than everyone else?  We must realize that we are never as good as we think we are, and God loves us regardless.  His grace is abundant in light of our failings.  And He wants it to flow out of us and onto others everywhere we go.  In every encounter He is present.  Every moment matters.  God lives up to His advertisement.  He’s everything and more than we have ever heard about Him.  

He doesn’t disappoint.  

He astounds.  

He awes.  

And He wants to do it through you and me.  He wants to do it in spite of our brokenness.  In spite of our weakness.  Maybe those are the signs we should be wearing.  Maybe the title of “broken” and “imperfect” should be our monikers.  Maybe we should be proudly advertising how unlike Jesus we really are to highlight how full of grace He surely is.  Maybe then all our labels and self promotion would always lead others to see God’s work in our lives and put all the attention on Him and Him alone.  Perhaps that is the key to aligning our outward labels with the inward changes He is making in each one of us.  And by doing so, we become more and more able to reach those He is so desperate to encounter in our lives.  Those who are disconnected from Him.  Those He is heartbroken for.  We become more of what He made us to be and less of what we’ve advertised ourselves to be.  We become more like our Savior.