{"id":461,"date":"2021-06-19T12:07:43","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T16:07:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/?p=461"},"modified":"2021-06-19T12:08:06","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T16:08:06","slug":"starfish-ideology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/2021\/06\/starfish-ideology\/","title":{"rendered":"Starfish Ideology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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An old anecdote speaks of a young man walking along a beach where hundreds of starfish have been washed up on shore. As he throws them back another person claims he\u2019s wasting his time because there are so many.  What he\u2019s doing doesn\u2019t matter.  As he throws back the next one, he replies, \u201cit matters to this one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watching the SBC Convention online this last week as an outsider I was struck by the barely concealed anger of some as their attempts to push harder-nosed, strict positions failed.  The crusade to seize control of what a whole collection of churches should do had been fomented over long months.  Meanwhile, others\u2019 passions were centered around seeking care for individuals who had been abused and hurt.  Their efforts were aimed less at trying to police what others thought, and more on ways to care for individuals.  Most of these warriors sounded far less angry but no less passionate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fallen world with its injustices and sins quickly seems to call for a massive effort to seize the reins of power and force everyone to change.  In trying to fix large-scale issues, we can turn a blind eye to real people right before us. The issues and ideologies of our battle become impersonal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, came to earth to deal with cosmic rebellion and provide salvation to the world.  Yet He spent a lot of time helping individuals.  Raising one child from the dead, helping a beggar gain his sight, or even healing a group of lepers did nothing to move the needle on global evil.  Yet as you read the Gospel accounts, repeatedly, in a sea of sinful humanity, He spent time with individuals.  While He did teach large crowds, most of His efforts were amazingly small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking back to the starfish story, small things matter to the recipients of love and care. The hard-line warriors, pastors, or others who count themselves as leaders, are often snide, angry, dismissive of others, and harsh. In fighting for the Kingdom of God, little of that kingdom\u2019s characteristic concern for others shines through.  It is a vision of big-picture \u201ctruth\u201d at the expense of individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must always start with the starfish at our feet.  You can\u2019t clear the beach by ignoring them.  God puts us in our spots with people before our eyes.  Systemic change must always be rooted in the love of the individual, not love for ideology about<\/em> individuals. Churches and communities need the love and call of Christ.  Truth must prevail in our churches and in people\u2019s lives.  Before we go to war over ideologies, we must make sure we love the people behind each and every ideology.  This is the way of Jesus. God Himself makes His quest for global justice and restoration deeply personal.  He\u2019s not fighting for ideological purity, he\u2019s fighting for individuals\u2019 souls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sacred truth of God\u2019s Word is intensely rooted in love for my brothers, my neighbors, and my enemies.  My passion must be centered in that.  I\u2019m too busy to get angry about ideologies when I\u2019ve got starfish to throw back into the sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An old anecdote speaks of a young man walking along a beach where hundreds of starfish have been washed up on shore. As he throws them back another person claims he\u2019s wasting his time because there are so many.  What he\u2019s doing doesn\u2019t matter.  As he throws back the next one, he replies, \u201cit matters … Continue reading Starfish Ideology<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-on-mission","category-life-in-christ","category-perils-of-shepherds"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":464,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.beanscorner.org\/zion\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}