Two facts about me:
1. I’m not one to get political because I don’t keep up with that stuff enough to be confident to share my opinion with the world.
2. I hate the word and idea of “boycott”.
With that said, we’ve all heard about Starbucks CEO’s recent reminder of his and the company’s support of gay marriage.
And we’ve also heard about Victoria’s Secret’s new product line “Bright Young Things”, lingerie geared toward the younger generation of girls.
If you haven’t read either of these things, click the links above.
I wish I had some creative way of beginning this little blog post, but I simply don’t. All I can tell you is that drinking coffee from Starbucks won’t make me gay and won’t make me a supporter of gay marriage. It’s just foolishness to take my coffee business elsewhere just because the company supports gay marriage and/or advised a shareholder to sell his shares and leave. If that is the stance we are going to take, then Brent should quit his job because the company he works for provides benefits to the employee and a domestic partner, married or not, straight or gay. And trust me, neither of us are looking for him to change jobs any time in the near future!
Taking your coffee business elsewhere because of the price? Well, that’s a different story.
To me it seems a bit immature for us Christians to take our ball and go home. Does boycotting really have any positive and practical results? Are the Starbucks CEO and employees really going to have a change of heart as a result of Christians getting their panties in a wad? Whatever boycotting may or may not do, it certainly has a negative effect for followers of Christ who are to be busy making disciples of these people who support gay marriage, rather than making enemies with them. It’s one thing to oppose or speak up for something that God’s word clearly states is sin, but it’s another thing to distance yourself completely from the people committing or supporting those sins.
If Jesus were on earth today, He would thoroughly enjoy a cup of coffee at Starbucks and if given the opportunity, He’d sit next to a gay couple and engage in an authentic conversation with them that would lovingly lead them to see their sin.
Know what He wouldn’t do? Only buy his coffee from Chick-fil-a because that’s where the Christians work.
And that’s another thing…that Chick-fil-a day to support traditional marriage was dumb too. Maybe I’m just not one to jump on a bandwagon and I do LOVE CFA, but I don’t need to buy chicken biscuits with an “I’ll show them” attitude to voice my opinion to a world of people that don’t know Christ.
Let me make it clear, I am pro-traditional marriage between a man and a woman and do not support gay marriage in any way. But we’re not out to gain enemies, y’all. We’re out to love our enemies (or people that live with disregard to God’s standards…whether they are our friends or enemies) and shoving our beliefs in their face just doesn’t do what we need it to do for a lost world.
HOWEVER…
This Victoria’s Secret mess is maddening and takes my opinion of “boycotting” to a completely different level.
Why? Because this will effect my daughter (and my son, for that matter). Drinking coffee won’t make Lily gay, but this line of lingerie does create a world of problems for her:
It devalues the person she is…fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of Christ.
It encourages the worldly thought that I pray daily she will fight…the idea that her worth and beauty are derived from her outward appearance, which by the way needs to be perfectly airbrushed, tan, and size 0.
It plants the thought that if she wants a boy to love her, she needs to dress to impress his eyes.
It makes her body the object of lust for a male, whether that be a friend, a boyfriend, a child molester, or a sex trafficker.
And so many more problems…
These aren’t just issues for Lily. They are issues for all young girls.
I don’t believe Christians should take their ball and go home on this one either. I don’t think we need to post crap all over social media stating that we will NEVER EVER shop there again…even though that’s definitely something to consider. I mean, who can justify spending $50 for a piece of lace? Just go to Michael’s and find a scrap piece on the floor for free, tape it to your rear end and there you go…free lingerie.
Just kidding…but you get my point.
Instead, we should be more occupied with exposing the great harm Victoria’s Secret’s line of lingerie is doing to the minds and hearts of these precious girls that are, in God’s eyes, physically perfect just the way He made them; and the way it is fueling the demand for the sex trafficking industry.
We as mothers, fathers, grandparents, guardians, aunts, uncles, mentors, etc. need to be diligently and intentionally teaching our girls about their beauty and worth in the Father’s eyes; and be on our knees constantly praying that our precious girls will be confident and content in their identity in Christ, will desire purity, and make wise decisions that will only expose their hidden beauty (Christ).
And Dads, you need to be dating your daughter while she’s young so she will know the difference between a “bro” and a follower of Christ that wants to take her out.
Need date ideas? You can start by taking her to grab a cup of overly priced, gay coffee at Starbucks :).
Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear–but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is God’s sight is very precious.
1 Peter 3:3-4
A Merry Heart 
This silliness of picking up stones when Jesus dropped His just exposes the icky we can still harbor in our Christian hearts. That thing about the lace is not far fetched at.all.
I thoroughly enjoyed this post for many reasons…and one being you summed it up nicely with taking your daughter on a date to starbucks…CLEVER!! hahaha But seriously, I need to talk to Josh about those dates for the future…that's a really good idea:) Also, I too will continue to drink starbucks. Why does everything have to have a cause…I just want to enjoy some food! haha I am now off to Michaels to find some undies!