First of all, I love Jesus. Secondly, I'm a mom. Third...I REALLY love music. Like, a lot. Specifically, I love me some T-Swift. My affection for her and her musical artistry has been well documented. In 2011, I even dragged my husband to see her in concert....before she became "Famous" (some of you will get that). He did not hate it.
But those three things....when they all converge....well, sometimes it does weird things to my brain. And sometimes, the universe just presents me with a gift that the Holy Spirit uses to drop on me some spiritual truths.
The gift....of course....is the Kanye West-Kim Kardashian-Taylor Swift mega feud. Move over Hatfields and McCoys, there are some new sheriffs in town.
(For context - in case your world does NOT revolve around pop culture goings on....here's a link that summarizes the situation fairly succinctly. Beware....because this involves Kanye, there's some offensive language. http://www.vox.com/2016/7/18/12210858/kim-kardashian-taylor-swift-snapchat-kanye-west)
At this point you're like, "Jesus and the Holy Spirit have nothing to do with this and you are deluding herself if you think that They do." Stay with me. The wisdom is coming.
Now working backwards from the aforementioned things of three, we come to the fact that I'm a mom. Specifically, a mom raised by two teachers. This leads me to find lessons in EV-ERY-THING. I even annoy myself by doing this, but I can't help it. It's ingrained into my DNA and there's no escaping it. My only option is to embrace my destiny. So OF COURSE I hear about this and my mom brain immediately thinks to myself, "What lesson could my children from this?" Because if my mother taught me anything, she taught me that it is ALWAYS preferable to learn from others' mistakes when you can.
And oh, the mistakes we have here...
On the one hand, we have Kanye West and the Kardashians. Their errors in judgement have been documented in seasons one through infinity of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. They have used their own questionable behavior to build an empire, and they revel in it, warts and all.
On the other hand, we have Taylor Swift. All that we know about Taylor Swift is what she has carefully crafted and presented for our consumption. I first became aware of this at the concert we attended, when it became immediately obvious that the entire thing was scripted. It was entertaining and wonderful and I'd pay to see her again - but not one spontaneous word came out of her mouth. And look, that's fine....I have no issues with that. You want to present an intentionally constructed version of yourself to the public - that is your right. Of course, if someone secretly records you as being less than authentic and then posts it on SnapChat...well...now you have yourself a problem.
But honestly...we all do this don't we? We use Instagram and SnapChat filters that present us in the best possible light. We lose our minds during family pictures if all of the kids aren't smiling because THIS IS A HAPPY FAMILY, DANG IT. And don't even got me started on the many family fights that magically end the minute the wheels of our cars hit the pavement of the church parking lot. That isn't the Lord doing a work in us....that's us doing a work on our image. Because as we all know, Christian families don't fight, and they certainly don't fight on the Lord's Day.
The problem with Taylor....and the problem with us, if we're being honest....is that we think we can get away with it. We want to control how others view us by highlighting the good and hiding the bad. And we think that if we do it long enough and with enough skill, that this version of ourselves will somehow become the truth. Look, it's not like we invented this. Jesus condemned the religious leaders of his day for being "whitewashed tombs" (beautiful outside, gross and dead inside). Nowadays, we read that portion of the Scripture, nod sagely, tsk tsk at the Pharisees, and go right back to our hash tagging and filtering, never realizing that we might be guilty of the same.
This brings me right back to the first thing. (Jesus, remember?) The book of Numbers is fairly clear: "...and be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:23 Simple...to the point...fairly ominous. All the hallmarks of a great moral lesson. Kidding aside, this isn't a threat. It's a warning. A warning to us that it doesn't last forever. True character is always revealed. We can allow the Holy Spirit to reveal it to us so that He can do a work, or we can let others reveal it to the world on Instagram.
Blessedly, most of us are in no danger of being exposed on social media by the great machine of doom that is the Kardashians. That doesn't mean the lesson should be lost on us though.
Because if we as believers are to make anyone famous....it's Jesus.
(P.S. Taylor Swift...I still love ya girl. You'll make it through this. I promise.)
