“…speak out with as much faith as God has given you.”

I was fortunate enough to stumble upon the movie, “Collateral Beauty”, a Will Smith (among other big names) film.  In the movie Will Smith’s character is a Creative Director of a New York Advertising firm.  In the first few minutes of the movie the character, Howard, states that the three advertising abstractions are Love, Time and Death.  He teaches and leads that all three are the basis of consumer and human behavior.  “We long to love.  We wish we had more time.  We fear death.”  If this doesn’t sound familiar then just watch a night of ad-based television or skim through magazine advertisements.  The movie is way deeper, but the film does remind us that life can be boiled down into the simple needs and fears that we universally share. And so, that is the basis for most advertising and how companies interact with their consumers. And yes, how we might even advertise to our own consumers.

As we try to stand among detractors and those who question where we stand, we can share His light through how we love others because of our love of God. We also choose how it that we invest our time. And, most importantly, how we approach death and what it represents for us can be quite a stark difference. We will have plenty of opportunities today to speak into one, if not all, of the three abstractions as they are always around us and made top of mind.

Reference: Romans 12:6 (New Living Translation)