Through Thicke and Thin

In the midst of the crises we experience, we can experience hope in Christ.  2nd Corinthians 3 talks
about the transformation that God wants to bring about in our lives. We can read:
16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

The Lord wants to pierce the spiritual blindness that we possess, trapped by human wisdom, and hopeless in ourselves to craft solutions that will satisfy the longing in our souls.  In our trouble, we can turn to our Redeemer - not One who will take us out of our trouble, but who can replace turmoil with peace and disappointment with hope.  He wants to work in our souls to bring us into a fresh knowledge of Himself.

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God wants to bring us to a place where we admit the futility of the life we are living apart from Him, embrace His hope, recognize His power to save, and surrender to the Savior.  A passage in 1st
Corinthians 6 contrasts the old life from the new:
9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites,
10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

In the Christian community, actor Kirk Cameron has a tremendous following.  He, of course, is known for a variety of films, as well as his evangelistic work with Ray Comfort and The Way of the Master.

What the Faithwire website has brought forth recently is that after he became a Christian, Kirk Cameron struggled with his role in the entertainment industry.  Interestingly enough, it was his sit-com dad, Alan Thicke, who provided some wise counsel.  The article states:

While not much is known about Thicke’s faith, his father took “Growing Pains” co-star Kirk Cameron under his wing many years ago, when the 48-year-old actor converted to Christianity.

Following his embrace of the Christian faith, Cameron said he began to feel uncomfortable performing scenes that were suggestive or didn’t align with his beliefs in some way. The elder Thicke ultimately advised Cameron to step away from secular entertainment and pursue faith-based opportunities.

Two years ago, Alan Thicke passed away during a pick-up hockey game in California.  Meanwhile, another man named Thicke had achieved pop music stardom - that would be Robin Thicke.  His song, Blurred Lines, was described by Billboard in this way in an article that does contain some objectionable content:

Either way it’s observed, the inescapable ditty and the fallout that followed seemingly christened the track as one of the more polarizing, conversation-starting pop songs in recent memory, and contributed to the derailment of a once promising R&B career.

The lyrics were thought to be not only suggestive, but also objectifying of women; the songwriters lost a copyright lawsuit, and Thicke's raunchy performance with Miley Cyrus at the MTV Music Awards was certainly a topic of conversation, but not in a good way.  The article says Thicke told GQ:

“We tried to do everything that was taboo,” he told the magazine, in part of a discussion that he now says was “taken out of context.” “People say, ‘Hey, do you think this is degrading to women?’ I’m like, ‘Of course it is,’” he continued. “‘What a pleasure it is to degrade a woman. I’ve never gotten to do that before. I’ve always respected women.’”

So, Robin Thicke's pop music legacy is questionable, at best.  Fast forward to two years ago: his father dies suddenly, and, as Faithwire points out, his girlfriend revealed that she had a miscarriage prior to the birth of the couple's first child; they are now expecting a second child outside of a marriage relationship.  So, now Thicke has released a new song - Faithwire reports:

Thicke released a new single, “Testify,” last week, and it strikes a few spiritual chords — a sharp turn away from the overly sexual, made-for-radio pop tunes for which he’s famous.

About the song, the article says:

“It’s cathartic just to be able to say it and then let it live, as opposed to in the middle of a conversation or a quote,” Thicke told People. “Once you put it into song form, then it can live forever. And so the message in the song is really about the hope and the light at the end of that tunnel when you feel that you lost or you feel that you don’t know what to do next.”

He is also quoted as saying, "You know, that reconnection to God or spirituality or something deeper than the surface is what brings you back home to who you really are and who you want to be."

Tre Goins-Phillips, who wrote the Faithwire article, comments:

While Thicke’s new song and comments about God are very broad and seem more aligned with a general spirituality, the Lord uses the brokenness and pain we experience on this earth as opportunities to meet us, to give us glimmers of mercy and grace in a dark and often hopeless world.

That is a great reminder for us, and perhaps the Lord is drawing this young man to Himself.  I know that crises can produce a fresh dependence on God.  A trial can either cause someone to draw closer to God or run away, but He will use trouble to show us that we don't have all the answers, and He can lead us to hope as we recognize that this world doesn't offer the deep-seeded solutions that we seek.

Human wisdom does not produce those answers, and we know that God can use circumstances to point out that our path is flawed, and He has a better way.  We try to figure out what is wrong or what needs to be done; in our human independence, perhaps we find that our thoughts are futile - we need a Savior.

And, that can come over a period of time.  Remember, the story is not over; God is still working.  We can continue to trust in His love and faithfulness.  And, we can make a clean break with our past.  Jesus enables us to change the narrative, which will change the reputation.  The apostle Paul was well-known for His hostility to Christians - and he wrote about how God changed His life, changed the course of His life, and provided a contrast between a life devoted to Christ and one that was not.