Dear, dear, Christians...Oh, dear...dear, Christians

Dear, dear, Christians...Oh, dear...dear, Christians,

I recently heard about all the miffs Christians are having with Starbucks... or at least a few Christians.  I don't know.  I don't know who really cares about the "red cup" or the fact that Starbucks doesn't say "Merry Christmas" or whatever.  

And then there's the logo.  I've seen videos by Christians saying the logo at Starbucks is a deep, dark, satanic thing,  I watched a whole spiel about how it's a mermaid and mermaids were put on ships to protect them from mermaids and mermaids are mythological creatures signifying all kinds of bad things.  This guy implied that all of this is good reason to boycott Starbucks and it's evil brainwashing powers.  He said there are countless other "seemingly everyday" symbols that we all are accustomed to and it's brainwashing us to side with Satan, essentially.  He considers it his duty to unearth these things and bring them to the attention of Christians so we might repent of ever coming in contact with them.

Here's what I have to say about the lot.  He is telling us all the same things that Jesus told us:  this world is wicked.  It's no surprise.  It's nothing new.  He's right.  I do not, however, agree with him as to how we are to respond to this.  At least on social media, Christians seem to think we are supposed to "expose evil" and run far away from it.  

Is that what Jesus told us to do?  If we do that, if we expose all the evil in the world and boycott it all, we will be boycotting everything and everyone.  We would have to boycott ourselves, because we too are wicked.  Everything in this world, apart from God, is wicked   And what did He tell us to do? To be a light.  To be an example of speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.  I don't think many people know what that means anymore.  They will hear these words and still think their walk with God consists of fighting people on Facebook, following "Christian" trends and boycotting Starbucks.

Lets outline what God has really told us to do:

1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall not make idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
5. Honor your father and your mother.
6. You shall not murder (nor let anger reside in your heart towards a brother which is just as wicked)
7. You shall not commit adultery (nor look lustfully on anyone whom God has not given to you as a spouse for this is just as wicked)
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10. You shall not covet.

"Take up your cross and follow me, deny your flesh and forget earthly things.  Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, leave everything and come to me, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, do not offer to remove the speck from your brothers eye when you have a plank in your own, remove your plank and then help your brother with his speck"

These are the things we are supposed to do.  They are much more challenging and not as easy as "defending Jesus" on social media.  

So stop all the silliness.  You don't have to take part in it.  You don't have to be afraid of this wicked world.  You only need to look for God.  Where is He?  What is He doing?  Seek Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  He didn't say boycott the world, He said be in the world, but not of the world.