A Desperate Plight for Validation and Acceptance

“For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7 ESV)

This week started off with a lot of commotion regarding the VMAs in NYC! Mostly, I don’t pay much attention to the secular music scene. Admittedly, I have a far different opinion about music then I did when I was in High School, or even when I first started as a youth pastor 10 years ago. I use to think I needed to know the latest, coolest and hippest music to relate to teenagers. After all, my early spiritual mentors all did…actually they did not.

I came to the realization that even if I did know the hippest songs, I wasn’t hip. It wasn’t how cool and trendy I was that helped me relate to students, but a genuine love for Jesus and for them. So I gradually began drifting from the mainline, popular music scene. I began to listen less and less to secular radio. Christian music is on the rise with better musicians and songwriters. Every type of music I wanted to listen to I could find Christians who sang it. Soon I developed my own personal preferences to lend itself to 90% Christian music and 10% shared with talk radio and secular music.

Not only that, but I don’t watch TV. I don’t have cable or even the digital converter so I can get local channels. I just don’t watch normal TV, including news and sports. Occasionally I will meet friends for sports, but only when invited. I do have Netflix which allows me to be selective on what I watch.

I tell you all this so you know that I am, well, out of the loop on pop culture. I read articles online and try to be relevant. However, most of the trendy and popular music contains lyrics that are just offensive to me. I wouldn’t have even known the VMAs were last week had I not heard that a couple of my students were going to it.

I heard a lot of the hype about Lady GaGa and, of course, Miley Cyrus. Mostly it was just headlines on Yahoo News or reactions from my blogger friends. It wasn’t until this morning, while I was at the gym, that a segment of the video played on the News. I had my headphones on listening to Skillets new “Rise” album and not really paying attention. Then, looking up, I see this very offensive clip, pretty much pornographic material, being displayed on the local news. Have you ever seen something that makes you physically sick? That’s what happened to me. I just couldn’t believe my eyes.

Now you probably expect me to jump on the “let’s bash Miley” band wagon. No, I that’s not what I want to do. My heart breaks for her. What must have been going on in her mind and heart to drive her to perform in such an obscene way? I don’t know her and I certainly don’t want to judge her. However, I know she was looking for validation, for worth, for love. She may not realize it, but what she really wants is the genuine love, meaning and purpose that can only be found in Jesus Christ.

The world she lives in, pop culture and the music scene push the performers to go further and further into the obscene to receive notice and accolades. It’s a constant battle for artists to stay in the lime light and some will do anything to receive attention.

Jesus came to show us the way to the Father, the only one we should be seeking attention from. Jesus lived a perfect life because we cannot. He paid our debt on the tree, because we cannot. He rose from the dead to secure a way for us to find ultimate satisfaction, meaning and purpose in Christ.

We may look at Miley and shake our heads, but her performance should remind us that we too are looking for affirmation, for validation and love. We often pursue it in the wrong places and find ourselves far from where we intended. It is there that we look to Christ and find forgiveness and hope. You see, God doesn’t look at us the way the world does, He looks at our heart. We can fool the world, but we cannot fool Him.

In this desperate plight we find ourselves in, will you consider the words of Jesus? “ Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30 ESV)