Boycott

While I was in the good ol' USA this past November, I walked into a Starbucks.  They had red cups.  It triggered a partial conversation I heard regarding "red cups" and I asked the Barista what the Hoopla was all about.  She rolled her eyes.  She then began to give me a rather spirited and impassioned speech about her take on the stance against "red cups".  Then, she delivered her closing argument that has stuck with me all these months:  "The way these people carry on is saying a whole lot more about what they believe Jesus is like than their actual doctrine."

Lately I've been reading endless Face Book feeds about restrooms, gender identity, creepers in the bathroom, boycotts and Target.  I get the same impression that this is another hot topic like my beloved "red cups".  I have a few thoughts.

Starbucks and Target are not Christian companies.  Why should they promote Christian values?  I don't expect McDonalds to care about my cholesterol.  So, why do I expect Target or any other company to care about my religious or moral values?

There are a lot of reasons why I could boycott any number of institutions.  I personally would like to boycott the doctors' office banal ritual of weighing me every time I come to have my ears checked.  It makes me feel bad, uncomfortable, less of a person, ostracized, and plain ol' fat.  Yet, I keep going.  The doctor is not responsible to make me feel good about myself.  He's there to provide a medical service.

If we want to jump on a bandwagon, let's band together in righteous anger about those who came before us - even our own generation - who lived in cultural Christian bubbles never getting involved to protect Christian morals and rights that founding Father's died to establish.  Complacency has led to an "everything goes" culture.  Now, feeling overwhelmed by all that is wrong, we pick and choose what to boycott because it just strikes us that this one thing has just pushed too many boundaries.  We select those that are most offensive and then go on the defense.  Our target is unholy actions.  But, what would happen if there was a revolution of those who wanted to have pure hearts, love as God commanded, and desired to see the Holy Spirit permeate cultures that would be turned upside down for the better because of love?  We can love like God loves and still not tolerate sin.  But, hating sin is not hating a person.

And - then there's Jesus.  He came to rub shoulders with those who didn't fit into religious categories.  He was a rebellious thinker, shaking boundaries and testing tradition.  Many years ago, WWJD became a widely popular identifier for those who wanted to consider what Jesus would do in any given situation.  What would He do now - in Target? - in Starbucks?

"Healthy people don't need a doctor - sick people do.  I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners." - Jesus

There is a principle at play here - one Jesus, Himself, put into action.  He chose to be an influence to those who needed salvation.  But, he choose to be with those that the religious had labeled as outcasts because they didn't fit into their (the religious') "culture" of piety.  He didn't boycott the tax collectors den - he visited it.  He didn't avoid hanging around the docks where the lowly fishermen hung out - he frequented them and called them to be a part of His movement.

I'm just totally convinced that I can bring change because of the power of the Holy Spirit that resides in me.  Don't like going to the bathroom with a transgender person?  Don't go.  However, don't ban the transgender.  Don't close eyes and heart to a person that God has a purpose for and needs to quite possibly experience true love from a loving Father.  We fear what we don't understand.  Yet, Jesus imposed himself right in the middle of that which was most feared.  The outcome brought tax collectors returning stolen money and fishermen changing lives of men.  Would we do wise to do the same??

Looking for the sick,
Christina