I recently observed in my reading of the gospels that Jesus never marketed his ministry. I am not against advertisement, Facebook events, commercials, etc. But the thought did lead me to question how his fame went around the country.

It seems like his fame came about for one reason – He had life.

He had life for healing, He had life for deliverance, He had life in his teaching. Life is contagious. Life spreads by itself. Life needs no hype, manipulation, or emotional momentum. Life brings life.

My second thought was does my own life have life to offer others. 

If it does, then maybe I don’t need to market myself. Maybe to the extent I need to market myself I am covering over my lack of life?

When Jesus fed the 5000 the people did not come to the meeting because food was advertised. The people came because Jesus had something they wanted. It was life for them to travel on their own at their own cost into the middle of a wilderness. It drew them. He fed them physically only when they got hungry.

I am often tempted to substitute marketing tricks for my lack of life. I use them hoping there will be a spiritual change in people’s life. The problem is that spiritual change has to come from something spiritual. A human spirit can only be changed when touched by another spirit.

Father, I pray you will fill me full of your life in order to truly change other people’s lives as Jesus did.