I learned this week that recently-divorced Katy Perry was going back home to California to visit her parents, who are Pastors of a church in her hometown community. It isn’t anything new for a celebrity to visit home, but Ms. Perry, as stated before, would go home as a divorcee for the first time.
I also learned that the same weekend she is home, the great Tim Tebow is set to speak at her parents church.
And then the media went wild.
Rumors started to fly about the potential for Ms. Perry to visit and make a connection with the great game-saver himself, as if her parents strategically planned for their meeting to happen. Many have spectated that she will even visit her parents church for the first time in a while just to see him.
While I may not think that all this was setup for a purpose or if there is even a motive for it, it sparked a question in my mind about marriage and relationships: why do we get so excited for this stuff?
Mr. Tebow has admirable qualities I presume for a partner to any woman, and Ms. Perry is successful in all she does. It seems like a great mix, but why do we get excited when we see potential things like this happen around us, even with people we don’t even know? Many reality TV shows today even champion that part of our social phenomenon where we just want to see perfect couple unite everywhere.
I’m guilty of it too, but why do we do it really? Does this mean that those who aren’t as attractive and aren’t as successful can’t find true love because their lives just aren’t interesting enough? Do we simply gleam over relationships and triumphs of couples deemed not noteworthy?
I guess you could say that parts of us live vicariously through these anticipated relationships, whether they materialize into anything or not. We like to see good people find love because love is the ultimate gift. We cheer them on because we want them to be happy, just as we do ourselves. But why do we only cheer on those who we think are noteworthy?
We can sometimes do the same thing with witnessing. We all identify with someone who we want to bad to come into relationship with Christ. There is always that one person that we put some extra time into witnessing. I think that is excellent. I truly believe God gives us ‘special projects’ where our gifts, talents, testimony and life can really speak into someone in a special way that only we will be able to communicate God’s love to them effectively. What I think we have to be careful in is when that person becomes so much of our center that we forget to:
1. Keep our focus on their salvation
2. Maintain our own spiritual integrity
We have to be able to remain steadfast to God’s direction for us, and He doesn’t take a break sometimes while you are in the middle of scoring a spiritual touchdown with someone. He may bring other non-believers into your realm and bring in some reinforcement on your end to help. When that happens, we can sometimes feel as if we have to maintain control of that person and that they must find Christ through us. When we allow those feelings to enter in, we jeopardize our own walk and put it at risk of self-righteousness.
I truly believe that we have the power to lead folks to Christ, but lest we forget that we offer a POWERFUL gift – the gift of LOVE; the gift of CHRIST!
Acts 8: 4-8 talks about Philip’s work in Samaria. Although a small and simple passage, I can only imagine how much power was flowing through those streets. We serve THAT God, who can turn cities around and make the impossible possible. All he did was obey, take a step of faith, and get it started, and God’s glory did the rest!
Let’s stop trying to do all the work and getting infactuated with the mission, and let’s remain sensitive to what God would have us do. We are ALL his children, even the uninteresting ones who to society deserve little attention. We ALL deserve His love. We are all on the same team. We may start a relationship or we may be at the final ending when that person finally comes to know Christ. We never know where we are in someone’s life story.
I hope Ms. Perry does end up meeting Mr. Tebow. Not because I want them to get married, but because I want her to feel loved. I hope she meets anyone out there, friend or partner, who can show her God’s love. Without expectation of reward.
Love. Love HARD. Repeat.
Let’s make that the focus of our witnessing and we will make headlines in Heaven.
