Why BUT GOD.

BUT GOD. was inspired by Ephesians 2:1–4, read during an ordinary Bible study.

The first three verses describe who we were before God. Dead in our sin. Following our own desires. Living by our own nature. I recognized myself in every word.

Then verse 4 opens with two words. But God.

But God.

They lifted off the page. Not as a verse. As a verdict being overturned.

I then noticed that if there is any phrase that explains my life, it is BUT GOD. If there is a phrase that explains Christianity, it is BUT GOD. The whole gospel sits on that turn. We were dead in sin. But God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ.

So we imagine a world filled with BUT GOD.

On a street. In a grocery line. Across a room. Someone reads it and asks what it means.

That question is the opening. To the person wearing it, an opportunity to point to Jesus.

The pieces are made for that. Most of the print sits on the back, read by the person behind you, in passing. Legible, not loud. Built for an ordinary day, a quick run to the store, the school run.

In BUT GOD. we love the sinner, not the sin. Unbelievers are not our enemies. They are the reason we are here, to be Christ's ambassadors. We were once exactly where they are. It is only by grace that we are not there still.

Lerato Baidoo