Consumer Reviews

If you have done much shopping online, you know that customer reviews can be a big thing.  Most places have some sort of a rating system, like one to five stars.  People who are familiar with the product then weigh in, give it a score and provide comments.  Some reviews are good and some reviews are bad but they give insight in to the product that you are considering.

On some sights the review isn't about the product but rather about the business that sells it.  On ebay the sellers are rated.  Sellers who are new and have few positive ratings or worse yet have been given negative ratings tend to have less people bid on their items and take lower prices for their goods.  Similarly the their are sites such as Yelp whose entire purpose is to let us know what you think about a product.  So to sum it all up, we like to express our opinion and we appreciate using the opinions of others.

So these reviews are important.  So important in fact, that some manufacturers and companies will put out fake reviews of their products.  They pay people to log on and write up glowing reviews with that ultimate five star rating.  Which of course has led to other online services such as Fakespot.  This service will review the reviews to vouch for their legitimacy.  Pretty soon there will be a site to review the site that reviews the reviews.

What carries even more weight than the online reviews is good old fashioned word-of-mouth advertising.  We trust the opinions of our friends and when one of them says that a product or service or movie was worth our time and money, we really tend to listen.  So we share our experiences with the new restaurant or tell about our experiences with a local mechanic or what ever.  And this is true of our negative experiences too.   In many ways we are much more likely to share and our friends are much more likely to listen to those.

 

As Christians we are called to be part of the word-of-mouth campaign.  We are called to live a life that the Joy of God is shining through us.  The fact that God is working in our lives should be evident.  And we need to be willing to share.  We live in a world where it is considered impolite to bring up religion and we don't want to put people off.  But it is ok to share our opinions about which local pizza place is the best or if a new movie is worth our time.  

Word of mouth can be effective for good or bad.  And while it is a way to share with friends the hope and love that you have found in following God, it can also be a negative review.  If although you profess to be a Christian, there is no visible change in your life, people will notice that too.

Watch this clip from Pastor Chris.

As Christians we are called to spread the Good News of God's love to those around us.  We need to be sharing our review and live a life so that others will think that they want the love, joy and peace that we have.