Since the passing of
Prince more and more seems to be coming out about his addiction to a various
assortment of drugs. I highly doubt
anyone is surprised by this. It seems to
be the norm for so many in the entertainment industry. I recently posted a question on Facebook that
drew the ire of some of my Facebook friends.
I asked “am I the only one who remembers Prince as a creepy and
perverted little guy?” The Prince defenders
came out hard and fast. Perhaps it was a
bit too early to pose such a question.
Understandably when someone passes we try and focus on the good things
we remember about them. In the case of
Prince I received a lot of posts about his awesome guitar playing skills, his
ability to entertain (although in hindsight we’re discovering that ability was
primarily fueled by drugs) and his humanitarian efforts. These are all legitimate points, which makes
his probable death by overdose all the more frustrating. Why did he have to do drugs in the first
place? Why do so many in the
entertainment industry get involved with not only drugs but a life of
debauchery in general? I’m getting a
little tired of people talking about the demons that must have plagued their
life every time another musician or actor dies from drug use. Somewhere along the way, long before they ever
become addicted to any kind of drug, these people made conscious decisions to
do something they knew may not be good for them in the end. They choose a “party and player” lifestyle
all on their own. That’s where the old “sex,
drugs, and rock-n-roll” saying comes from in the music industry. It seems the money and fame comes and they
just can’t help themselves. Except they
can help themselves. They just choose
not to. They can make a conscious choice
to not get involved in risky behavior.
While it may seem like they all do drugs, we know that’s not true
either. There are no doubt plenty who
don’t. Plenty with tough backgrounds,
coming from dysfunctional families, who still don’t. Plenty who are able to say “I’m not going to
use the difficulties in my life as an excuse to get involved in such a
lifestyle.”
The book of Proverbs is
full of passages about the long life we can have by pursuing wisdom and
righteousness and the short life we have when pursuing a life of
debauchery. Perhaps Proverbs 10:27 is
the one that sums it up the best. The fear of the Lord adds length to life,
but the years of the wicked are cut short.
I have to admit I found the Message translation of this verse sadly
funny when considering the recent death of Prince. The
fear of God expands your life; a wicked life is a puny life. But I really don’t want this blog entry
to be about poking fun of Prince. The
truth is none of us are perfect and we all have struggles. I really do hope that Prince was able to
discover what it means to be a follower of Christ. I hope he was able to discover God’s love and
grace for him. But the evidence thus far
isn’t encouraging. I’m concerned that
all that humanitarian stuff we have heard about him doing was done based on a
false religion. One that emphasizes good
works to earn your salvation, instead of excepting God’s love and grace through
the person and work of His son Jesus Christ and choosing to live one’s life for
Him. It occurs to me there are a lot of
folks in the entertainment industry living incredibly sinful lives while at the
same time doing a lot of good, getting involved in charities, and the
like. Why do you suppose that is? Could it be they view their lives on some
sort of cosmic scale? And they’re hoping
that the good is going to outweigh the bad when it comes to the sex and drugs
part? Could it be that’s what Prince was
doing? It wouldn’t surprise me.
If you get nothing else
from reading this blog, please know this one thing; the order matters. We can’t perform good works to somehow earn a
right relationship with God. We have to
accept God’s love and grace for us first and give our lives to Him, and then
the good works just come naturally as a response to the love God has shown us
in the first place. The only thing the
first order gets us is an eternity separated from God. Accepting God’s love for us and choosing to
live for Him first on the other hand gets us eternal life after death and abundant
life in the present; a life that has no need for drugs. Which order are you choosing?
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