As many of you know, I am mildly obsessed with Fixer Upper and Chip and Joanna Gaines. I've read their book. I've read their magazine. I've been to their store in Waco twice. I am claustrophobic and cringe at crowds, yet I push my way through their store every holiday like a Black Friday shopper who wants a flatscreen.
I love their style. I love their affection for each other and their children. I love Chip's constant physical comedy.
They ran into a slight bump about a month ago after a Buzzfeed article. I call it a bump because escalating it to "persecution" or "controversy" is just what many media outlets, especially Christian ones, want to happen. Because we don't get thrown into the Colosseum with lions anymore, we often- consciously or not- puff up situations to be persecution so we can say that we experienced some.
I was impressed with Chip and Joanna because they refused to be martyr poster children. They lived their life, they loved their babies, and they redesigned houses. Period.
I've seen articles going around quoting Chip as saying, "Disagreeing with someone is not the same as hate."
This is a true statement and one that Christians everywhere are throwing up as a protective fort around their beliefs.
But here's the thing: Chip and Joanna, so far anyway, are living this statement. From what I have read and know about them, they seem to treat everyone with dignity and respect.
It's true. Disagreeing with someone isn't the same as hating them.
But as a society, we have done more than disagree. We have started believing that sharing human dignity and basic rights with each other is the same as sharing each other's beliefs.
And it's not the same.
Thinking that everyone should be able to be served at a restaurant; that everyone should be able to buy a cake; that everyone should be able to use a bathroom; that everyone should have governmental protection; doesn't make what you believe any less of a personal stance. Extending service and grace to people you disagree with isn't you saying, "I'm completely OK with how you live your life." It's saying, your life matters. Your life deserves the same freedom, the same attention, the same amenities as mine gets.
Both sides are to blame. The Buzzfeed reporter who started this whole mess applied malice and motives where there were none. He assumed, maybe from past experience, that having a certain stance is the same as being a hateful individual. And that's not the same either.
We need to stop trying to find and become martyrs for causes that fall short on the long list of devastating things happening in our world today. We have chosen causes that are easy to grab onto; causes that require nothing from us but our computer keyboards; causes that call us only to the higher calling of eating a particular chicken sandwich.
Anyone who watches Fixer Upper knows what Chip's favorite day is: Demolition Day. It's about tearing down the old to make room for the new.
Let's make 2017 about reconciliation. Christians have hurt a lot of people. People have thrown unnecessary daggers at Christians. We have a lot of work to do. Let's get to it.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
And it's not the same.
Thinking that everyone should be able to be served at a restaurant; that everyone should be able to buy a cake; that everyone should be able to use a bathroom; that everyone should have governmental protection; doesn't make what you believe any less of a personal stance. Extending service and grace to people you disagree with isn't you saying, "I'm completely OK with how you live your life." It's saying, your life matters. Your life deserves the same freedom, the same attention, the same amenities as mine gets.
Both sides are to blame. The Buzzfeed reporter who started this whole mess applied malice and motives where there were none. He assumed, maybe from past experience, that having a certain stance is the same as being a hateful individual. And that's not the same either.
We need to stop trying to find and become martyrs for causes that fall short on the long list of devastating things happening in our world today. We have chosen causes that are easy to grab onto; causes that require nothing from us but our computer keyboards; causes that call us only to the higher calling of eating a particular chicken sandwich.
Anyone who watches Fixer Upper knows what Chip's favorite day is: Demolition Day. It's about tearing down the old to make room for the new.
Let's make 2017 about reconciliation. Christians have hurt a lot of people. People have thrown unnecessary daggers at Christians. We have a lot of work to do. Let's get to it.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
