Kanye West Christianity
October 16, 2012 by Morgan Davis
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...”
(1 Pet. 2:9)
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10)
“..In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will..” (Eph. 1:4-5)
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:3-4)
I don’t know about you guys but when I read the scriptures above and many other passages like it, I can’t help but feel very humbled while supremely validated! To think that the Creator of the universe, God Almighty, thought of me, created me, and has great plans for my life just blows me away. His great love for me was the reason He sent His Beloved Son to die for my sins to bring me back into a right standing relationship with Him in order that I would spend eternity in paradise with Him. Wow! When it comes to us needing validation and approval, it can’t get any better than being validated, affirmed, and approved by God Himself.
For some reason though, as believers in God and with all the grand benefits that comes with being His child, His affirmation of us is not enough for us. At times, we give more weight to being approved by man, affirmed by man, and validated by man. Now before I move any further, let me clarify something. There is nothing wrong with having the healthy desire to be affirmed by others. That’s actually one of my love languages and I’m sure it is for a lot of you reading this. However, there is a problem when we give man’s approval, affirmation, and validation of ourselves more credence than what the Lord says about us.
Ok Morgan, so what’s your point? I’m glad that you asked! Lol! My point is this. It is one thing to receive approval, affirmation, and validation from others, but thirsting for the attention of others which leads to antics that provoke approval, affirmation, and the validation is wrong and it’s often a smoke signal of deeper emotional issues that lie below the surface. Some of these emotional issues that I am referring to could be low self-esteem, high self-esteem (i.e. conceitedness, vanity, narcissism), and being insecure.
Our society provides us with countless ways to fill the gas tanks of our desire to be approved, affirmed, and validated. Television, billboards, and magazines bombard us with ways to look better, feel better, and promote products that we “need” in order to live better. Music can have a way of stroking one’s ego or giving you one altogether. Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” had your girl thinking that I was “that chick” that could just dispose of people when I got good and ready. No matter how strong minded you are and I consider myself to be pretty stubborn in my thinking, if you listen to something long enough, it has a subtle way of influencing you. More commonly today, the internet and its billion dollar social media industry can turn anyone into a celebrity over night. We just flutter for joy when we get the friend requests, the likes, retweets, the shares, and comments. Our emotional tanks overflow and we lovingly embrace the attention. It’s serving its purpose. The responses we get from others approve us, affirm us, and it makes us feel validated.
Where is God and His view of us in all of this?
The Instagram models, the “he said I’m so beautiful, but I’m godly so this is how I responded” status updates, the blogs from guys who boast in “their” knowledge and theologies, the “I’m a dope Christian rapper, listen to me” posts all scream for attention. It really hurts when I see so many women and men of God continuously put “themselves” on display. We do this by promoting our self. We want to show others how pretty we are, how deep and wise we are, and how gifted we are. Part of my testimony is that I used to be a glamour/vixen model. I loved the attention. Taking clothes off in front of a camera and having photographers tell you to pose in a certain way felt disgusting but that disgust quickly went away when the praise, fame, and more gigs came around after the images of me had been published. While my experience was what you would expect from someone of the world, there’s not too much of a difference in this fight for the pedestal within the ranks of Christianity and I could write a series of articles tackling the various dynamics.
All in all, I want us to be more encouraged by and live according to how God actually sees us and not feed our insatiable appetites of the need to be approved, affirmed, or validated by others. We as believers are the most fortunate, loved, and praised beings in all of creation because of who we are in Christ Jesus. We are the most gifted and talented people alive because of the supernatural gifts and abilities that we possess in view of the Holy Spirit’s residence in us. With all the affirmation we receive from God through His word, because of who we are in Christ, we are still encouraged by Paul to conduct ourselves with all humility, thinking of others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3).
Let’s rid ourselves of the Kanye West way of doing life that seeks to always be seen and heard. Don’t obey the thirst of your flesh that thrives on getting an approval, affirmation, and validation itch scratched by man. In general, or in conversations, or when posting statuses, tweets, and pictures, or blogs, etc., let’s be honestly conscious enough to ask ourselves, “Is what I’m getting ready to do, say, or write for my own glory or for the Lord?” Seek always to deflect the attention to He who is more than worthy of all the glory, and honor; our precious Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“There is a sense in which the human soul has caved in on itself and is now held captive by a fixation with its own states and conditions and concerns. The soul has become parasitic on itself, feeding on its needs and cravings by excessive introspection and elaborate attempts to elevate its sense of self-worth. Your soul was never meant for this. You were designed for something better. You were built for the contemplation of something infinitely more complex, something incomparably more fascinating than your own “self.” You were created for the joyful contemplation of God.”
-Sam Storms
October 16, 2012 by Morgan Davis
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light...”
(1 Pet. 2:9)
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Eph. 2:10)
“..In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will..” (Eph. 1:4-5)
“For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:3-4)
I don’t know about you guys but when I read the scriptures above and many other passages like it, I can’t help but feel very humbled while supremely validated! To think that the Creator of the universe, God Almighty, thought of me, created me, and has great plans for my life just blows me away. His great love for me was the reason He sent His Beloved Son to die for my sins to bring me back into a right standing relationship with Him in order that I would spend eternity in paradise with Him. Wow! When it comes to us needing validation and approval, it can’t get any better than being validated, affirmed, and approved by God Himself.
For some reason though, as believers in God and with all the grand benefits that comes with being His child, His affirmation of us is not enough for us. At times, we give more weight to being approved by man, affirmed by man, and validated by man. Now before I move any further, let me clarify something. There is nothing wrong with having the healthy desire to be affirmed by others. That’s actually one of my love languages and I’m sure it is for a lot of you reading this. However, there is a problem when we give man’s approval, affirmation, and validation of ourselves more credence than what the Lord says about us.
Ok Morgan, so what’s your point? I’m glad that you asked! Lol! My point is this. It is one thing to receive approval, affirmation, and validation from others, but thirsting for the attention of others which leads to antics that provoke approval, affirmation, and the validation is wrong and it’s often a smoke signal of deeper emotional issues that lie below the surface. Some of these emotional issues that I am referring to could be low self-esteem, high self-esteem (i.e. conceitedness, vanity, narcissism), and being insecure.
Our society provides us with countless ways to fill the gas tanks of our desire to be approved, affirmed, and validated. Television, billboards, and magazines bombard us with ways to look better, feel better, and promote products that we “need” in order to live better. Music can have a way of stroking one’s ego or giving you one altogether. Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” had your girl thinking that I was “that chick” that could just dispose of people when I got good and ready. No matter how strong minded you are and I consider myself to be pretty stubborn in my thinking, if you listen to something long enough, it has a subtle way of influencing you. More commonly today, the internet and its billion dollar social media industry can turn anyone into a celebrity over night. We just flutter for joy when we get the friend requests, the likes, retweets, the shares, and comments. Our emotional tanks overflow and we lovingly embrace the attention. It’s serving its purpose. The responses we get from others approve us, affirm us, and it makes us feel validated.
Where is God and His view of us in all of this?
The Instagram models, the “he said I’m so beautiful, but I’m godly so this is how I responded” status updates, the blogs from guys who boast in “their” knowledge and theologies, the “I’m a dope Christian rapper, listen to me” posts all scream for attention. It really hurts when I see so many women and men of God continuously put “themselves” on display. We do this by promoting our self. We want to show others how pretty we are, how deep and wise we are, and how gifted we are. Part of my testimony is that I used to be a glamour/vixen model. I loved the attention. Taking clothes off in front of a camera and having photographers tell you to pose in a certain way felt disgusting but that disgust quickly went away when the praise, fame, and more gigs came around after the images of me had been published. While my experience was what you would expect from someone of the world, there’s not too much of a difference in this fight for the pedestal within the ranks of Christianity and I could write a series of articles tackling the various dynamics.
All in all, I want us to be more encouraged by and live according to how God actually sees us and not feed our insatiable appetites of the need to be approved, affirmed, or validated by others. We as believers are the most fortunate, loved, and praised beings in all of creation because of who we are in Christ Jesus. We are the most gifted and talented people alive because of the supernatural gifts and abilities that we possess in view of the Holy Spirit’s residence in us. With all the affirmation we receive from God through His word, because of who we are in Christ, we are still encouraged by Paul to conduct ourselves with all humility, thinking of others better than ourselves (Phil. 2:3).
Let’s rid ourselves of the Kanye West way of doing life that seeks to always be seen and heard. Don’t obey the thirst of your flesh that thrives on getting an approval, affirmation, and validation itch scratched by man. In general, or in conversations, or when posting statuses, tweets, and pictures, or blogs, etc., let’s be honestly conscious enough to ask ourselves, “Is what I’m getting ready to do, say, or write for my own glory or for the Lord?” Seek always to deflect the attention to He who is more than worthy of all the glory, and honor; our precious Redeemer and Savior, Jesus Christ.
“There is a sense in which the human soul has caved in on itself and is now held captive by a fixation with its own states and conditions and concerns. The soul has become parasitic on itself, feeding on its needs and cravings by excessive introspection and elaborate attempts to elevate its sense of self-worth. Your soul was never meant for this. You were designed for something better. You were built for the contemplation of something infinitely more complex, something incomparably more fascinating than your own “self.” You were created for the joyful contemplation of God.”
-Sam Storms
