"Living life abundantly requires more than Jesus loving you; YOU have to love Him back! Each one teach one."
I'm so disturbed by Whitney's "Jesus loves me, this I know" comment. Just the way she said it in the 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer was disturbing to me. Perhaps it disturbs me because I was listening an interview a few years ago with Carlton Pearson, a once revered Evangelical televangelist who now teaches that the gates of Heaven are open to everyone regardless of their actions (the gospel of inclusion). When the heat got to be too much for him, he began singing that same song: "Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. They are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so." You know how kids put their hands over their ears and sing really loud to let you know they don't want to hear you? Well, that's what he was doing while the other pastors and radio professionals were trying to talk to him. It was eerie. When I heard Whitney say that in the interview, then watched a video clip of one of her last public performances where she was singing that song with Kelly Price, my heart saddened as I had that same eerie feeling. It makes me sad because it said to me that these people once loved Jesus, and knew He loved them, but eventually chose something else above Him. After they left Him, they stayed in the limelight, and still seemed to have it all to some, but what they no longer had was love or integrity, and were thus humiliated, living shameful lives. Paul said to the Romans in 11:29, that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. It was Job who said out of His anguish that "the Good Lord giveth and the Good Lord taketh away." Job, unlike Paul, was not a teacher. Many take what he said as gospel truth, but it wasn't. God doesn't take away what He gives to you. If He says He's going to do something, He will never go back on His word. But what happens is worse: if you walk away from Him, all of your covering is gone--not as a punishment, but rather a consequence. Love covers a multitude of sin, but when you walk away from His love, all of your covering is gone. It doesn't matter how hard people pray for you. YOU have to make the decision to stay covered by Him.
I also think of the artist formally known as Tonex. In case you didn't know, he is now "B. Slade." If you've never heard his amazing vocal range and musical gift, you won't be as sad about his demise as I am. He is openly and flamboyantly gay (read Romans 1:22-27), still preaching and singing gospel, and believes that nothing has changed in his relationship with God. After watching an interview with him, I became saddened for the same reason: it is apparent that at one time, he, too, knew Christ.
So what happens to people like this? Folks, if you're one of those people who wants to win a million dollars, or just wants to win the lottery so things can get better in your life, pay full attention. In order to handle all that comes with megafame and riches, YOU MUST FIRST BE ROOTED AND GROUNDED IN TRUTH, INTELLIGENCE AND INTEGRITY. If not, the things that exist on that level will destroy you. Read Exodus 23:20-33, paying close attention to verse 29. In that passage of Scripture, God was telling His people that He was sending an angel to protect them on their journey into their land of milk and honey. He said He would drive out all of their enemies for them but He would not do it all in one year. He said He would do it "little by little lest the land become desolate and the beasts too numerous..." That means simply this: once you get to the big screen, the big stage, the field or the court, or even to that higher tax bracket, THERE ARE STILL GOING TO BE ENEMIES THERE! You can't get to your land of milk and honey and then walk away from your protection. Again, LOVE covers a multitude of sins. God, being love, protects you inside His love as if to put you into a protective bubble. If you pop that bubble, your protection is gone! How does one "pop" the bubble? By trying to fit in with and be like everyone else. The pressures of fame and money are great, and most of us don't want the money to change us. We say it all the time: "I don't want money to change me." Well, NEWSFLASH: if you were broke and then came into money, you're not broke anymore, right? HELLO. That's change! Having money changed you from the moment you received the news of having it! But talk to anyone who has come into money. It's not easy because it can be a very lonely, depressing and spooky place if you let it. For starters, the broke folks are always going to turn against you out of jealously and envy; it's a natural human response. It's as if they feel that being that close to someone who received a lot of money made them a potential candidate for the pot themselves, and it's your fault they didn't get it. If you hadn't gotten it, they could have! The jealousy and envy changes them, but they don't see that. They say it's you who has changed, and a common mistake on the part of the money/fame recipient is to respond to that by trying to prove they are still the same. Broke folks are mad folks, and mad folks are haters by nature. Don't respond to the criticism of haters. It's never done to help you; it's always done to hurt you. That's what envy does.
Anyway, back to Whitney, Carlton, and Tonex--and the rest of us. Know that when your gift and calling take you to a higher place, you're going to have to shake some things and some people loose. You can't pour new wine into old wineskins, and in order to support your new life, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CHANGE. If more people than before now know you by name, you have changed--and that's okay. Wasn't that the purpose of getting what you wanted in the first place? Let's go back: "I wish I could win the lottery so things can get better". Wasn't change the purpose for reaching for higher? You didn't ask that things remain the same; you wanted change. So go with it. It hurts at first, but it gets better if you stay on the right path. You will meet people who have gone through what you had to go through and can relate to how you feel. They won't hold it against you, either. The top is not as lonely as most think it is if you know how to navigate it. The key: letting go of those things and people that pull you down. If you wanted fame and riches to get out of the hood, don't take the hood with you to your destination. And remember, if the others want to get out, they CAN, too! And it's not your responsibility to get them out because they are going to have the same issue getting out that you had--trouble letting go, and the weight of letting go will pull you down if you don't get rid of it.
What does Jesus have to do with this, you ask? Jesus is the integrity of God. Say it with me: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God...God created everything through Him and nothing was created except through Him...And the Word became flesh and dwelt among them. (John 1:1...14) The Word of God is His incorruptible honesty--integrity. Not the words on a page, but Word as in "I give you my word." Everything God created for these people was created through integrity, so it takes integrity to maintain it. So if you fear the change of success, don't. Be more concerned about changing without integrity (and that's whether success is involved or not). If you loved Him going up, stay in His love once you get there; if you were integral going up, you've got to remain integral to stay there without it destroying you. That's your protection in a land where your enemies abound (and remember: your enemies are those of your own household (Matthew 10:36).
In order to live life abundantly and not be destroyed in the process, you must love and hold on to integrity even after you get there. Each one of us needs to teach this to someone. We need to spread the word. Keep life about integrity. Keep it real by keeping it honest. Don't take your gift and run away with it cuz it'll kill you! Take the gift and rejoice! Use it to help others to see that life doesn't have to be so bad. And when you get there, don't let others change you with their love of money and lack of integrity. Integrity is what makes life great, because it is integrity that leads you to greater heights; not money. So as you climb the ladder of success, know that you are going to run into a lot of lovers of money, status, fame and success who are dishonest and cheesy. Don't trust or befriend them because they will turn you into them by getting inside your head. They got to where they are by lying and cheating, so for them, that level is dark, and their darkness is their lack of integrity. Know that in your land of milk and honey there will be all kinds of people there. There will be friends, enemies, and ...well...friendly enemies! The friends will be those in the tiny group, but that's okay. You won't need many people in your business anyway!
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