Kanye Devotional

Kanye West

I can’t believe that I’m about to talk about what I’m going to talk about tonight.

I never in a million years would have guessed that I would ever be up in front of an audience talking about Kanye West, yet here we are.

Anyway, for those who don’t know, Kanye West is a famous rapper, songwriter, fashion mogul, etc… and over the the bulk of his career he has lived a lifestyle consistent with what we typically think goes along with all of that.

Partying, drinking, blowing through cash living an overly extravagant life designed to make others take notice of him.

But recently Kanye West has been in the news for different reasons.

But recently Kanye West has been in the news for different reasons.

It started a few months back when he began proclaiming that he was now a born again Christian, and that his life and music would start looking and sounding different.

His friends and those he was working with started noticing a difference in him when he started requesting that they stop using profanity around him.

The news then came out that while he was working on what he calls his first Gospel Album, that he requested that his creative team stop engaging in premarital relations.

In numerous interviews as he was making the circuit to promote his new album which is titled “Jesus is King,” he boldly proclaimed Christ in the face of interviewers, who on any other day of the week would openly mock Christianity, but he didn’t let that stop him.

Interviewers have asked him what he does now in the evenings and he has said that he reads the Bible.

People have noticed that he smiles more now than he did a few years ago, and that he genuinely seems happy.

As for the Album he released, it’s number 1 on the Billboard charts.

Christianity it seems has done a lot for Mr. West over the course of this year.

Our response?

Now I’d like to stop a minute and reflect on what we are thinking at this very moment.

Skeptical

We’ll see if it sticks

He’s just using it as a publicity stunt

Or even, “He’s not really a Christian”

I’ve heard and read many of these same sentiments over the last week regarding Mr. West, and If I’m completely honest, yeah, it’s hard not to wonder some of that myself.

Are his motives pure?

Is he using my precious faith and my savior to profit?

I don’t think he is, I mean it’s not exactly popular to be associated with Christianity these days when it comes to mass media.

So, what do we make of it?

Some of us are completely clueless in regards to all of this, and that is fine, I don’t expect everyone to have a finger on the pulse of entertainment news, I rarely do myself.

But when it comes to Christianity in the popular culture, I start paying attention because that is something that ought to interest us all.

When someone with as much popularity as Kanye starts talking about Christ, I want to know what he is saying, I want to know how he is portraying Christ? What effect is this having on the culture?

The Results

And when we look at what is happening, I have to say that I like what I see.

I’ve listened to the album and I’ve read the lyrics, and while it’s not particularly the kind of music I like, there’s actually some good stuff in there.

In one of his songs he makes direct references to the book of John chapter 8 verses 33 and 36, and in the days after the release, Google trends showed a 600% increase in search queries looking up those verses.

Google has also reported massive spikes in searches relating to Christianity such as “What do Christians believe”

The Phrase “Jesus is King” was searched over 1 million times on the day before the album launched meaning around that many people had to type that phrase out.

Now of course I don’t know that any of that is going to change anything in our culture, in fact I doubt that it will. But what he’s doing might cause someone to become curious enough to pick up a Bible, to read it, and to want to become a child of God.

And is that not what we continually pray for? For God’s word to be spread and for others to find Christ?

But you might say, “Yeah but he’s teaching things contrary to the Bible!”

Yeah, I know. So we need to pray for him to!

Turn with me to

Philippians 1:12–18 ESV

12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. 15 Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. 16 The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice,

Church, I’m as guilty about this as anyone, but we don’t have to be so cynical all the time!

Paul here clearly states that even while he was imprisoned there were those preaching with clearly ungodly motives, but he rejoiced any time that Christ was proclaimed!

So when we see good news such as this I hope we are able to rejoice.

I hope we focus our prayers toward those who might obey the Gospel of Christ

I hope we pray for Mr. West to continue to study Gods word and to become obedient to the faith once for all delivered to the saints.