Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

Jesus is King

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Kanye West’s Christian conversion is less about Jesus than it is about Kanye

This headline leaves no doubt how the article’s author feels about the icon’s new album or his faith.  Jesus is King dropped three weeks ago, inciting discussion, news stories, social media commentary and even subject for sermons.  With each interview Kanye does to promote the music, speculation grows.  The recording – only 27 minutes long – continues to stir up a heap more controversy than any of his previous provocative, obscenity-laced material.

Michael Arceneaux, who wrote the Think piece mentioned above, wrapped up his post by stating, “Jesus might be king, but it’s not at his altar that Kanye is worshipping right now.”  The criticism aimed at West is not only for his art, but also for beliefs.  Most notably, Christians have publicly questioned his motives and sincerity.  Some believe it’s all a stunt to sell records.  Other think he’s paying lip service to the Creator with no real internal change.  And still more are waiting for this “phase” of his to wear off.

What I must ask is, who are we to judge the heart of anyone?

As one source is quoted, “Kanye used to be about nothing greater than himself.  Now it’s all about a higher power.”  He has publicly promised that he’ll never perform his old material again in its original form – opting instead to edit lyrics that aren’t God honoring and don’t represent the new person that he is.  While many remain skeptical of such a drastic turn-around, I say, how powerful is the God they serve?  Mine is powerful enough to redeem us from any sin, no matter how dark or depraved.  My God accepts anyone from any walk of life into His open arms.  That’s what Jesus came for.

Kanye may not say all the correct things, but who of us came to Christ with all the right ideas and language already intact?  When we choose to turn our lives over to God, salvation happens in a moment.  But sanctification happens over a lifetime.  We become more and more like Jesus the longer we walk with Him.  As the pastor at my church pointed out on Sunday, Kanye must live out the first days of his new life in Christ on a public stage for all to see.  I don’t envy him that.  He will make mistakes as He learns and grows, and my prayer is that we will not skewer him for it.  We must not compare his first year against another believer’s 20th.  Moreover, we shouldn’t compare at all.  We have to stop publicly flogging other Christ followers.  We should lift them up in prayer.  Particularly those with such enormous reach.

Besides:

Everything that hath breath praise the Lord
Worship Christ with the best of your portions
I know I won’t forget all He’s done
He’s the strength in this race that I run
Every time I look up, I see God’s faithfulness
And it shows just how much He is miraculous
I can’t keep it to myself, I can’t sit here and be still
Everybody, I will tell ’til the whole world is healed
King of Kings, Lord of Lords, all the things He has in store
From the rich to the poor, all are welcome through the door
You won’t ever be the same when you call on Jesus’ name
Listen to the words I’m sayin’, Jesus saved me, now I’m sane
And I know, I know God is the force that picked me up
I know Christ is the fountain that filled my cup
I know God is alive, yeah
He has opened up my vision
Giving me a revelation
This ain’t ’bout a dead religion
Jesus brought a revolution
All the captives are forgiven
Time to break down all the prisons
Every man, every woman
There is freedom from addiction
Jesus, You have my soul
Sunday Service on a roll
All my idols, let ’em go
All the demons, let ’em know
This a mission, not a show
This is my eternal soul
This my kids, this the crib
This my wife, this my life
This my God-given right
Thank You, Jesus, won the fight 

…sounds like true faith to me.

Doesn’t Everyone Have a Lasso in Their Linen Closet?

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Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

I wanted to make some changes here at the house.  My husband?  Not as much.  But once I layed out my vision and assured him it would cost next to nothing, he got on board.  Then we got to work.  We began by rearranging some furniture and purging and organizing a couple of closets.  Well, that just lit my fire.  I decided next I needed to clean out my dresser drawers and my computer/work space and our filing cabinet and our linen closet.  Three weeks later and we MAY have come to a reasonable stopping point.  I say MAY because now I see some spots on walls and baseboards that need touch up paint and so on.

 

During these three weeks, I walked into several rooms and tried to think completely outside the box about the space.  This took some imagination since we have lived in this house for 16 years now and many things sit in much the same place they did then.  Over those years we have replaced furniture and freshened bedspreads and curtains, but I can’t honestly say we gave any thought to moving things around.  And I have to tell you, some of the things we did 15 years ago, don’t make a whole lot of sense anymore.  When our daughter with special needs was small, we made some very necessary decisions to keep some things under lock and key for her safety and our sanity.  And while we still have to keep some of those considerations, by simply choosing to look at things differently we definitely streamlined and simplified our space.

 

In light of the John MacArthur/ Beth Moore kerfuffle that’s been in the media of late, I think it might be time to look at some other things, in addition to my closets, in a new light.  I don’t want to go into the whole thing here because it wasn’t glorifying to God (and didn’t make Christ followers look too good either).  You have google and can find videos and quotes and comments galore if you choose.  My point is, when it comes to matters of our faith, the stakes are too high to just maintain the status quo.  We can’t just continue to do things because that’s the way they have always been done.  And we can’t continue to believe things just because that’s what we were taught.

 

We owe it to our own faith and our witness to the Creator to constantly hold up what we are taught and what we believe against the words in God’s Holy Bible.  And as beneficial as good books and preaching can be, we can’t simply take the word of others as gold.  We have to take the time to study for ourselves.  Read the ancient scriptures and then read commentaries (here‘s one I love) and study notes and look up the words in their original language (blueletterbible.org is a great free tool to help with this).  The older we grow in our faith, the more we should grow in assurance from study and prayer.  Let’s test our faith.  We will make it stronger, and maybe find out some things need to be rearranged.

 

And that lasso?  I left it in my linen closet as a sweet reminder of my daughter’s horse themed 5th birthday party.  Not EVERYTHING needs to change.

 

2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,  1 Peter 2:2 NLT

 

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And look up these great writers I link up with every week:

InstaEncouragements, Literacy Musing Mondays, Hello…Monday,

The Good. The Random. The Fun.

BloggerClubUK, Tea and Word Tuesday, Purposeful Faith,

GraceFull Tuesday Link-Up, Hearth and Soul Link Party,

Let’s Have Coffee, Welcome Wednesday, Recharge Wednesday,

Worth Beyond Rubies, #TellHisStory Link Up, Porch Stories,

Encouraging Word Wednesday, Tune In Thursday,

Stories of Hope, Moments of Hope, IHeart Verse Link Party,

Legacy Link Up, Fresh Market Friday, Feature Friday Time,

Friendship Friday Blog Hop, Faith on Fire, Traffic Jam Weekend,

Faith ‘n Friends, Dancing with Jesus, Grace & Truth, Booknificent

 

 

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