A call for fewer Jesus shirts

I went to Cedar Point last week. Growing up in Northwest, Ohio, I’ve been to Cedar Point hundreds of times. I love the place. I love almost everything about it. I could ride roller coasters all day.

But as much as I love the rides, I think the thing I love most about Cedar Point is the people watching.

I love humanity. I love all kinds of people, and with thousands of people to watch, Cedar Point is endless people watching enjoyment; tall people; short people; people who wear too much clothing; people who wear too little clothing; athletes; truckers; Bohemians; the Amish.

I love them all.

Well, almost.

There is one group of people I must admit I don’t love watching: Christian people repping their Jesus fit. And that crowd seemed abnormally large this time around.

There were the classics, of course; tshirts with Bible verses like John 3:16 ("For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”) and John 14:6 ("Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me’”). John is a favorite among Bible tshirt wearers. I even saw one person with a shirt referencing the “mark of the beast” from Revelation.

A different John, but still.

Then there were the slogan shirts; tshirts that simply read, “Jesus is king,” or “Jesus is Lord,” or “I serve Jesus.” One woman had a tshirt on that just said, “Jesus” in large, all-capital letters right across her chest. Maybe there was no other place to put it. Or maybe she thought if someone was going to look at her chest she might as well get em thinking about Jesus.

And I suspect that is why most people at places like Cedar Point choose to wear Jesus attire. I suppose there could be a few who wear it for the same reason other people wear brands like Nike or under Armor or Lululemon; because they like the way it looks, they like the “fit.” But I suspect for most it’s a form of witness. They figure as long as they’re walking around Cedar point all day they might as well be a walking billboard for Jesus.

I don’t mean to be judgmental. I’m not knocking Jesus-wear as far as it goes. I will admit, I’ve never worn a Jesus tshirt myself. I’ve just never really been into Christian pop subculture; Christian music; Christian movies; Christian clothing. Pretty much anything where “Christian” is being employed as an adjective. But if that’s your thing, cool. You do you.

What bothers me when I see hundreds of Christians walking around wearing Jesus shirts is more of a concern that they think the shirts are the important “walking billboard” for Jesus instead of their lives. They want to be a faithful witness for Jesus, so they wear a shirt instead of living a certain way.

Not that the two are mutually exclusive. But I fear they often are.

For instance, the woman I mentioned a moment ago who was wearing the tshirt with “Jesus” in big, capital letters across her chest. We were near one another in line for a roller coaster. The wait was about 60 minutes. Not awful for Cedar Point standards, but still non-preferred. This was at a time of the day when the sun was highest in the sky. It was about 80 degrees but with no airflow it felt more like 90. People were visibly uncomfortable. Fortunately, half of the wait was under a shade canopy.

You could tell as far as everyone was concerned the line couldn’t move fast enough, not to get them to the ride but just to get them into the shade.

When the time came for the lady with the Jesus shirt to leave the shaded area and return to the sun, she chose instead to let the line move on ahead of her while she stayed put. I’m guessing a 50-75 foot gap opened up between her and the people in front of her. She waited for at least five minutes, if not longer.

I should point out that this lady had no visible signs of any health condition that would have made standing in the sun any more dangerous or uncomfortable for her than anyone else. Neither was she accompanied by young children or an elderly person. By all external appearances, she was a normal, healthy, adult woman who was simply choosing to remain in the shade as long as she could.

What she either didn’t realize or didn’t care about (neither is ok for a Christian) was that by remaining in the shade she was preventing people behind her from entering it. While she was enjoying a little more shade time, other people were being forced to suffer more of the sun.

It was selfish, and with her big, bold Jesus tshirt, also a beautiful contradiction in terms.

If you want to rep your Jesus shirt, be my guest. But as I’ve said many times, “Christian” is not an adjective. At worst it’s a noun. At best it’s a verb; a way of life or a way of being toward others. If your character is not formed enough where you can consistently live out the other-centered ethic that is supposed to be the trademark of Christianity, you may consider leaving your Jesus tshirt at home. If you’re gonna wear a Jesus shirt, you better be on your game.

That may be one of the reasons I don’t wear Jesus clothing. God forbid while out in public I should do something that doesn’t represent Jesus very well, my tshirt would give me away. That’s a bad look for the church. The woman in my story was selfish but had she not been wearing a shirt with the name of Jesus on it no one would have been able to associate her selfishness with Jesus, Christianity, or the church. Maybe no one did, but we’ll never know and that’s the point.

She chose to let a tshirt be her witness instead of her life. Who knows if that did any damage. Hopefully not. But a life well-lived never does.

I get the impulse many Christians have to want to influence those around them for Jesus. And maybe a Jesus tshirt starts a conversation with someone. I just hate to think there are Christians out there who think witnessing for Christ is something we do by what we wear instead of by how we live.

So, this is a general call for fewer Jesus shirts and more transformed lives.