Tabloid Christianity

While not intentional, this week’s blog carnival topic, faithfulness, is timely and appropriate. You cannot even say the word without images of Tiger Woods or Sandra Bullock filling your mind. Sadly it’s become impossible to define the word without invoking its opposite. What should be the norm is overshadowed by tawdry headlines and tell-all confessions. I say “should” because faithfulness is God’s design. He instituted the sanctity of the marriage covenant to reflect his covenant to his nation, Israel. In fact, if you’re looking for headline-grabbers, look no further than the 28th book of the Bible. There you will see a scandalous relationship as an object lesson for why faithfulness is so important to God.

Like Hosea, we can learn from our own current events. Does it surprise anyone anymore to learn about a Hollywood celebrity having an affair with their co-star while shooting their latest blockbuster? If it does, it shouldn’t. What do you expect when you pull someone from their family, isolate them on location, and then reenact scene after scene of passionate words, warm embraces, and… well you know the rest of the story. It shouldn’t be a surprise when we see the same headlines for our favorite sports stars. They too, are on the road away from their families a majority of their season. It’s not “addiction” or some kind of god-complex that comes with being a celebrity that enables them to think they can get whatever they want. If it was, why isn’t every movie star and athlete an adulterer? Instead, it is the lack of keeping their roots deeply embedded in their homes and their families.

Just as adultery is anathema to God’s faithfulness, the root-causes can also apply to our own spirituality. Should we be surprised to stumble and fall when we’re not firmly rooted in God’s own word? When we spend days, if not weeks, months or years away from God, shouldn’t it follow that we’d have a love affair with the world? That is what’s so tragic about “Sunday Christianity.” A couple of hours a week cannot be expected to compete against a 40 hour work-week. A visit to church on holidays cannot stand against the hours of polluting our eyes and our ears with the filth that comes through our media. So we become unfaithful to our Lord. We have our affair. We have no regrets. Until it all comes crashing down. Then the paparazzi get their pictures, your face is on the front page, you lose sponsorships, you lose custody. Inexplicably your spouse takes you back. He cries over you. He caresses you. He forgives you. The Lord takes you back.

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20)