Category Archives: Social Issues

What Would Jesus Say to Miley Cyrus?

If you haven’t seen the video of Miley’s performance, I want to warn you that it is sexually suggestive and could be tempting to you. I’m not recommending that you watch it.

What might Jesus say to Miley Cyrus after Sunday night’s MTV Video Music Awards performance? While I’m not sure exactly what He’d say, there are several passages of from the Bible that give us a pretty good idea.

Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus that she is the kind of girl He came to spend time with.

There are a lot of religious types who won’t like to hear this, but it’s true. Jesus came to spend time with people just like Miley Cyrus. In the Gospel of Luke 5:30 the religious conservatives of Jesus’ day grumbled and said “why do you eat and drink with…sinners?” The answer? Because Jesus has compassion on sinners (Matthew 9:36), He loves sinners (Romans 5:8), and He came to call sinners to believe in Him (Luke 5:32).

So Jesus may well have gone to the VMA after party last night and sat with Miley and her crew (including the bears). That would not be unlike Jesus at all. In fact, that’s the very reason He left the holiness of heaven—to proclaim the Gospel of the kingdom to people just like Miley Cyrus.

How do I know this is true? Not only because the Bible says so, but also because Jesus came to rescue me—and I’m no different than Miley Cyrus. For the first twenty-one years of my life I loved attention and rebellion and sexual promiscuity and the thrill of the moment. If we’re honest, none of us are that different than Miley Cyrus. We might not parade our sin in front of the world on MTV, but Jesus sees the depths of all of our hearts—and we’re deeply deceived if we think that commends us to God.

The good news however is that “the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Jesus came for people like me and Miley—and you. I’m certain Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus that she is the kind of girl He came to spend time with.

Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus that her sin is deadly for herself and for others.

Jesus would tell Miley that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (Jn. 10:10). He would say that while the sexual thrills and the power of captivating millions of viewers seems to be fulfilling her soul, she actually is being robbed of the true joy that only Christ can give.

Jesus would also remind Miley that in her interview with Barbara Walters in 2008 (go to 6:37) she was convinced that she’d never go as far into sin’s arms as she has. He’d say something like, “Miley, sin is deceiving you. It’s blinding you. It has told you it only wants a little, but it always wants a little more. Sin will never stop until it has consumed you.”

Jesus would also tell Miley that her sin isn’t just corrupting her own heart, but that she’s leading others to into temptation as well. He’d remind her that the eyes of millions of young girls look to her to learn what it means to be a woman. But rather than find an example that leads them to fear the Lord (Prov. 31:30), they find one more reason to give their hearts and bodies to fleeting lovers.

He’d remind her that through her lyrics and promiscuous ways she tempts men and women to lust after her. He might liken her to the temptress who leads people away from the Lord and into the “chambers of death” (Prov. 5:1-14; 7:1-27). Of course, Miley isn’t the only one leading people to sin, but she needs to remember “temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!” (Luke 17:1). Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus that her sin is deadly for herself and for others.

Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus to come to Him and He will give her rest.

Sin is fun. That’s why we don’t have to be commanded to do it. There’s joy in the drink. There’s comfort in the caress. There is fun in the one night fling. There are laughs with the high. There’s adrenaline with the affirmation. Sin gives us pleasure—but that pleasure is always short-lived and it always leaves us empty.

Jesus would tell Miley that sin will never satisfy her soul because she was made for so much more. As Augustine, who once found life in orgies and drink, said “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.” There is nothing down the road Miley is on but pain and sorrow with some cheap thrills along the way.

Jesus would say to Miley, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest…learn from me…and you will find rest for your souls” (Matt. 11:28-30). He would tell her “There is rest from trying to keep everyone happy. There is peace for your haunting conscience. There is an answer for what you are seeking—and I am it.”

In the Gospel of John chapter 4 Jesus encountered a woman who was notorious for being wildly promiscuous. She had known many lovers, but they had all left her (or she had left them). When she spoke with Jesus, He told her that He could give her what she was looking for when He said, “whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Jesus promised that woman who had never been satisfied in her life the answer for her soul’s craving—Himself. Jesus could heal her and take away all her guilt and all her shame and all her wounds. He could give her rest. But to have it, she had to leave her old ways behind.

Rather than let her stay in the darkness, He called her sin into the light and exposed her for who she really was. He said to her “you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband” (John 4:29). Because God is holy, He will not accept us in our sin. He desires to give us peace and rest, but there must be repentance. We cannot love both sin and the Savior. Jesus called the woman to choose.

By the end of the story, it appears that she chose to follow Christ. Jesus had given her that spring of water and she ran back to the town where she was a known whore and cried out to everyone “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” (John 4:29). Jesus would tell Miley that He knows her sin and that it will not satisfy her—but He can. Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus to turn from her sin, to come to Him, and He will give her rest.

Jesus would tell Miley Cyrus that she will be judged one day and that she needs to get ready today.

We will all stand before God one day and give an account for our lives. This should sober us and cause us to take serious consideration of what we will say on that day. In the song Miley performed at the VMAs, she says “only God can judge us.” In one sense she is right. God is the final and ultimate judge. Only He knows our hearts and only He knows all our ways.

We should find not comfort in that idea however if we are not following after Jesus. In John 3:36 we are told that “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” To rest in the mantra that “only God can judge us” should not bring us peace if we have not turned from our sin and trusted in Jesus. Instead, we should tremble at the prospect of standing before our Maker on that day when all secrets will be seen.

The good news is that God is a God who loves to extend mercy. In Ezekiel 33:11 He says “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die…?” Jesus would tell Miley that she will be judged one day and that she needs to get ready today. The way to do that is to trust in the One who died for sinners like her, and like me, and like you and turn from our sins and follow Him.

Jesus would have much to say to Miley Cyrus, and it would sound a lot like what He has to say to the rest of us. Let’s not harden our hearts to His voice, but rather, let’s follow the One who came to save sinners like us. Pray that Miley would as well.

“Daddy, What’s Abortion?”

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As a parent, we get all kinds of questions from our children. “Why” seems to be the most frequent question in our house. There’s also plenty about unicorns, the Philistines (my daughter is amazed by them right now?), and what’s so bad about having chocolate for breakfast. But yesterday my daughter asked me one of the toughest questions to date.

“Daddy, what’s abortion?”

The news was on at our house and when she heard the unfamiliar word and her inquisitive 4 year old mind went to work. Now, I’m a believer in age-appropriate answers…but I felt my inadequacy on this one. I stood there as my daughter’s innocent eyes looked to me awaiting an answer to a seemingly normal question about a word she hadn’t noticed before.

It was one of those moments in time that I don’t think I’ll soon forget. There’s an innocence that a parent wants to preserve in their child, but when they ask questions, we need to try to answer. God gave us minds to think with and we want our children to learn to engage with the world in which they live. So I said to her, “it’s when someone makes a baby stop being in their mommy’s belly.” I thought that answer was a safe and adequate response to a topic I hoped we could press into at a later age. But it wasn’t.

“Where does the baby go?” she replied. “They go to heaven” I said. “Is the baby dead?” she asked. “Yes, honey, in an abortion the baby dies when the person takes it out of their mommy’s belly.” A moment of silence followed as she took it all in. “Do they kill the baby?”

We’ve tried to be wise in shielding our daughter from the horrors of the world she lives in, but during the Newton tragedy, she asked many difficult questions as well and she learned a lot about death and murder and the fact that some people kill other people. Since that day, she has been tuned into the fact that people kill each other sometimes.

“Why would someone do that? “Why would someone kill their baby? ” she asked. “There are lots of reasons people do it sweetheart, everyone has different reasons, people just do.” Now, if you don’t know me, I need to tell you that when I was 21 a girlfriend and I chose to have an abortion. You can read about that here. So this post is written by an imperfect man who has done many things he regrets. But when she asked me this question, I couldn’t find a way to explain it.

“How does someone kill their baby?” she asked. I explained to her that normally, doctors helped mommies do this and that all doctors didn’t do this. At this point, I felt like we had gone far enough and I changed the subject.

As I’ve reflected on all of this, two things have weighed heavily on my heart.

The first is the sadness a parent feels as they watch their children begin to process what it means to live in a sinful, fallen world. It was heartbreaking to watch my daughter, who already loves the idea of marriage and having children, process the idea that someone would kill their child. I saw a bit of her child-like innocence die on that Monday morning. It was gut wrenching. I know these types of conversations will happen. She will have her heart broken. She will fail a test. She will get rejected from something. She’ll miss an easy lay-up. Those things will come. But yesterday’s question seemed to come too early and too sincerely. She drank it in and it stung her.

Today she and I have a daddy daughter date and I plan to follow up with her about our conversation. We’ll talk about 1 Peter 2:11 and what it means to live in a fallen world. I pray God will use the terror she feels about sin to open her heart to believe in Christ. May God give us wisdom to shepherd our children’s hearts through the sad realities of this fallen world.

The second thing I left the conversation with was a fresh burden to see abortion ended. I know that ending abortion raises other issues. I’m not saying those issues are light. Unplanned pregnancies can be a terrifying thing. But, please, something has to happen. We are killing babies. We are killing babies. We are killing babies. Every day, thousands of them. Something has to happen.

What is the answer? There is no easy answer. There are many things that have to be considered, but the bottom line is that we need God to intervene. We need Him to use His people to cry with those who find out they are pregnant when they didn’t intend to be. We need His church to rise up and walk along side mothers and be willing to adopt these children. We need God to move in the hearts of abortion doctors like a dear friend of mine who came to me one day after a sermon and confessed that he had been doing abortions for years and that he was repenting and asking Christ to forgive him. We need the Holy Spirit of God to show us how to be compassionate and bold at the same time. We need the Lord Jesus to change many hearts…including our own. Is this impossible? “Nothing is impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). Let us pray and act in faith in a great God who can change any heart and any civilization.

My prayer is that my daughter will see a dramatic change in the posture of our country toward abortion. My prayer is that one day, if she has children of her own, that she will be able to talk with them about abortion as something that was ended during her generation and that my granddaughter will grow up in a day much different than the one we are in today. May God give us grace, we are in need.

The Great Tragedy of the 2012 Election

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The Great Tragedy of the 2012 Election

There was a great tragedy that occurred on Tuesday, November 6, 2012.

The tragedy was not found in the celebrations of elected officials or the concessions of defeat. It was not colored red or blue, and it wasn’t wrapped up in useless campaign promises.

The tragedy of the 2012 election is that in this land of the free and home of the brave, many people were not allowed to vote. Their voices were silenced. Their votes were not cast. Their opinions not expressed. Why?

Because they were dead.

The great tragedy of the 2012 election is that roughly 33 million would-be voters were not with us, because they had been murdered. From 1973-1994 roughly 35 million babies were aborted. That’s roughly 35 million 18-39 year-olds who did not vote because they were dead.

That is an unspeakable tragedy.

They did not have the chance to explain to their children about what makes our nation so great. They did not have the chance to watch the results come in with their friends and family.

They did not have the chance to rest their heads on a pillow in the land of the free. That is a great tragedy.

But this story of tragedy is not over.

In 2016, roughly 5 million more voices will be unheard. Why? Because over 3,500 babies will be killed today. And each day leading up to Tuesday November 8^th, 2016. In the 3 minutes it takes you to read this post, 7 babies will have been aborted in the United States of America. Their voices are silenced. Their freedom not experienced. Their opportunity to be brave not known. Their lives taken from them.

This is a tragedy that hits close to home for me. When I was 19 years old, I chose to end the life of my first child through an abortion. My friend and I were in a scary place, we didn’t plan to get married, and we had nowhere else to go. So we chose to end the life of our child.

That child would be 16 today. They’d be excited about driving a car and in just a couple years, they’d be excited about voting. But, they won’t be doing any of that. I won’t be sitting down with them and explaining how to think about policies and the candidates that represent them. I won’t be able to tell them about freedom and justice for all. I took that freedom away with my injustice.

I cannot undo what I’ve done in the past. None of us can. Only Jesus, who shed His blood for sinners like me can heal those wounds. Jesus gives us great hope in the midst of this tragedy, and all the other tragedies we face in this life.

If you have committed an abortion, I want you to know that there is a refuge in Jesus. He will heal your wounds. There is no sin so great that He cannot forgive and no sin so small that does not need to be forgiven. If you will confess your sins and turn to Him in faith, He will wash away all your guilt and all your shame. Come to Christ.

If you support abortion, I encourage you to spend time in prayer and ask God to show you if abortion is something that pleases Him or not. Ask a Christian to help you see what God’s Word says about this. I’m under no assumption that you don’t already have deeply rooted ideas, I did too. I encourage you to take the time to read what God says about life and who has the right to give and take it away. I encourage you to start with Psalm 139.

If you are a Christian, be patient with those who view things differently than you. But don’t just be patient, speak truth in love to those who are in need. Find ways to help those who are struggling through unplanned pregnancies. Investigate options for adoption and invest in the lives of those who are facing difficult choices.

I have on my wall a picture of a 3 year old boy in cowboy boots. He’s a 3 year old boy who nearly wasn’t with us today because of the difficult place his mother found herself in. She was not married and pregnant and scared. But my wife met with her and prayed with her and took her to a Christian doctor who showed her the baby in her womb through a sonogram. That young mother had the courage to keep her child.

That young boy’s smile reminds me that God can save children, one at a time. But God does this by using His people to come alongside those who are struggling and lovingly showing them the Christ who can walk them through any terrifying situation, even an unplanned pregnancy.

I believe that the only hope to turn the trend of this tragedy around is for people to turn their hearts toward the God who made them through the way paved by His Son Jesus. Jesus changes hearts, and changed hearts changes a nation. May God give grace to us as a country, and may God give us courage to stand up in the midst of this tragedy so that, if the Lord tarries, there will be many more people casting votes in 2030. Lord Jesus, we need your help.