I have been thinking a lot lately about some of the celebrity mess ups that have been the talk of the news.
The beginning of the football season saw the reemergence of Micheal Vick. Micheal went to prison a couple of years ago on criminal charges for promoting dog fighting.
A couple nights ago, Kanye West committed a crime of his own. Maybe it wasn’t one worthy of jail time but he has already been tried and convicted in the court of public opinion. Even the President Obama referred to him as a “jack*ss.” When you are called a name like that by the President you’ve performed a major mess-up.
And I have heard judgmental statements about both of them come out of my mouth and the mouths of many professing Christians. But God has convicted me about that and has used both situations to remind me of something huge.
As God’s people, we are to be agents of redemption. It is not our place to push people down after they’ve tripped. We are the ones called to lift people up. We are to desire the best for people. We are to seek the best for people. Even the Micheal Vicks and Kanye Wests of the world. We are called to love them.
What does that love look like from a Biblical perspective?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient,
love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
But what does that look like practically? I think the best question is this:
Would you be more excited to see Micheal Vick go to the Super Bowl or jail cell?
Would you rather see Kanye at the Grammy’s or in the gutter?
More than anything I would like to see both men transformed by God and seeking Jesus… but… your answers to the questions above will say much more about the state of your own heart than the guilt of their actions.
