My Thoughts on Miley: Wrecking Ball

I am listening to a popular song by a popular girl who is more known for her outrageous behavior rather than her stellar vocals. I listen to her song and intentionally never watched its corresponding video because I did not want judgment and criticism to taint my vision of who she really is.

And how the Father really sees her.

It’s much easier to listen to her heart and agree with her true identity as she belts out lyrics of betrayal and pain. Now in some skewed sense I’m sure her video is an attempt at releasing that pain. But in the viewer’s defense and without actually having seen it for myself, I can only guess that all one would see was a young girl’s sexuality on display for male and female viewers alike. Not her pain that was removed with every piece of clothing.

Truth is, behavior is never just that. Behavior is always the fruit of something deeply embedded within the soul of a person. And if a person’s outlandish behavior is splattered all across the screens of America, than the typical response happens. The media with its hypocritical eye points and shakes its head, all the while glorifying and exalting the very ones it condemns.

But the church condemns too. I heard a popular preacher on a popular radio station calling out this girl, comparing her dress to a “whore”. Except he used the slang version of the word.

Right over the pulpit.

I was crushed. Couldn’t he see that she was crying out? Didn’t he understand that her behavior was a fruit of deeper issues??? Didn’t he understand the pains of a young woman in a broken world with a distorted vision of identity and purpose? Or was he born perfectly from the womb?

Maybe it’s because I myself have been a wrecking ball that I could see so clearly. I myself was wrecked and hurt and crushed. Lost and could not seem to get it together. Did not have the right clothes for church and the right family background. I committed a lot of outlandish behaviors that were rooted in a lack of identity. A lack of understanding value and purpose. I’m just now coming into that understanding.

Let’s be honest. We are all a wreck. We were all born into a war. Some are fortunate to grow up knowing the victory was already won for them. But there are so many of us who don’t know or did not find out until much later. After we were wrecked when our attempts for true love were met with more brokenness and pain. Then we finally saw. Our whorish ways and slutty outfits were traded for forgiveness and grace. Love and adoration.

Too bad the voices of condemnation often shout louder than the voice of love. Even from the pulpit.

Especially from the pulpit.

SHALOM