...was post something trite, trivial, and VERY hilarious on facebook and the twitter last night. about miley cyrus. i would write it here but that would defeat the whole purpose of this post. but you would LAUGH. oh, you would laugh.
so let's back up in case you are clueless about the whole miley cyrus VMA scene... which means you live under a rock (and if you do, will you invite me over?) because yesterday in above rock world you must have heard/saw/read something about miley cyrus twerking and licking and bootie shakin' (bootie shakin' turns out to actually be "twerking" and yes, i had to google "twerking" and now you don't have to. you are welcome.) and partially clad singing it up on the MTV awards show.
and so i had this really funny facebook status update to write about it all. HILAR. all fired up and ready to post...
then i read this blog post... how do we help miley? which from the title clears up that it isn't going to answer questions like...
How do we help a girl like Miley?
How do I keep from my daughter being like that?
What is this world coming to?
all valid questions. all thing i wish she had answered. because i don't know those answers either. and dang it I NEED SOMEONE TO TELL ME...
but as annie downs points out in a thoughtful blog post "how do we help miley?"...
"Miley still washed her face last night and climbed into bed at some point and in that most honest moment right before she fell asleep, I wonder if she was sad. Or embarrassed. Or if she is so deep in the rabbit hole of this whole thing that she felt nothing.
I want to yell down that rabbit hole and tell her to come back.
While today’s headlines are tearing her to shreds, we as Christians HAVE to sound different than the world. We HAVE to yell a different chant in her direction about how God made her on purpose and how she is valuable because of WHO she is, not WHAT she does." {annie downs, how do we help miley?}
and i thought about the questionable choices i make everyday that aren't televised. (THANK YOU JESUS!)
like the choice to eat a snowcone with condensed mik on top of it when clearly that is not the healthiest choice. (of course i did instagram that choice. and no one tweeted about what a stupid choice lea marshall had made.) the choice to facebook status or instagram for attention. the choice to be jealous of my friend's "perfect life or perfect kids or perfectly full bank account." the choice to not talk with my kids because i want to watch HGTV or the choice to not do something i need to do because "i deserve a nap."
and in a stunning slap of reality i realized that for the same reason miley twerked, i tweet (or facebook status update)... for attention. for applause. because i need something (other than God) to tell me that i am worthy. and adored.
i am actually living out the lyrics to her song that she sang on MTV... without the drug references. well, unless you call refined sugar and unsaturated fats and caffeine "drugs". and you could do that because i use them to quiet down the voices in my head. most likely the same reason most people do drugs...
because really i do what i want to do. my life could be her song "we can't stop." i can't stop eating unhealthy things. seeking applause. caring what everyone thinks about me. choosing pleasure over responsibility. on a regular basis.
and much like the song lyrics "i can say what i want... i can kiss who i want... i can shake it like i'm at a strip club." (ok really, no one wants to see me shake it like i'm at a strip club.) but i can do what i want. and most of the time... i do what i want to do.
but there are things that come with doing what i want... things i might not want. and miley or whoever else is doing what they want, when they want, how they want also cannot escape that some things are certain to come that you didn't want...
there are consequences to every choice. consequences to snowcones after dinner. or twerking on national television. consequences to living for applause or comments or likes on instagram. consequences to napping instead of cleaning, exercising, or calling a friend who has been on your heart. but some things get a bit more press than the others. thank goodness. i couldn't stand the bad press. (because i kind of live for positive affirmations. still not a good thing.)
which is why this all struck me this morning as kind of IRONIC because i am in the middle of preparing to teach our youth for 5 sunday evenings from the BEST two chapters in the Bible (i am partial to whatever i am in the middle of studying. kind of a "dance with the one who brung you" kind of mentality. in this case i am in a hot and heavy relationship with these two heady chapters in the new testament)....
romans 7 and 8.
i have been reading romans ALL summer. EVERY day. these two chapters and then selections from other chapters. OVER and OVER and OVER. and it has become familiar and yet always fresh.
and i have come to some conclusions...
romans 7 is all about reality.
and romans 8 is all about the Ideal that has become Real.
and right smack dab between the two concepts are these bold and beautiful verses...
romans 7:24-25 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!
our reality meets His Ideal.
at the cross.
it is those verses that i cannot get used to in the Bible. can. not. get. over. them.
every time i see them it makes me cry. especially as i read them in context EVERY DAY. and EVERY time i come to those verses tears spring into my eyes.
first... because of the horror of the reality presented in romans 7. the horror of the reality that i see everyday on the news. in my own personal choices. in lives around me. in a beautiful young girl twerking on MTV. in an 45 year old woman who wants to tweet about it for some applause and giggles. WHO WILL RESCUE ME?
WHO WILL RESCUE ANY OF US?
but most of my tears are because i know romans 8 is coming. i know the Ideal has come to our Reality. i know it so well now that i am grateful to the point of tears springing into my eyes even before i read these famous verses of comfort. of JOY. of truth...
romans 8:1-2 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
the gospel message is so very contained in those two verses at the end of romans 7. and then continues to the GOOD news of romans 8...
tim keller always says things so well...
The Gospel is that I am far worse than I imagine and simultaneously more loved and accepted by God than I ever dared hope for — because of Jesus death for me.
that entire dance/song on the VMA's was scorchingly hot. so was my realization that my own sinful heart leads me to seek the same attention (in yoga pants as opposed to teddy bear leotard. but i digress...) where were we? oh yes...scorched places. i have a few of them. a whole body of them. so does miley. so do you (i bet). but The Lord is watering my scorched heart with the truth of romans 7 and 8. every day. reality meets Ideal. the reality is though my heart and flesh may fail... on a daily, minutey, every second basis... God is my strength and He is my portion. forever.
my prayer is that He will be yours. that He will be my childrens'. that He will be miley's. scorched earth needs a cup of cool water. reality needs Ideal...
