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Lust Fuels the Fame (2/7/04)

Lust Fuels the Fame
by Josh Harris

I flipped through the crayon-bright pages of USA Today. I can't remember the cover story. No doubt something about the Middle East or the economy or California was given prime position. I didn't really pay much attention. A little picture the size of a matchbox in the top right hand corner sucked me in.

Madonna was kissing Britney Spears.

Okay, I'm not going to lie to you & say that I yawned & nonchalantly read the latest news on Iraq, or even that I turned to the sports page. This was a shallow moment for me. I immediately turned to the story on the smooching divas.

I didn't see the MTV Music Video Awards. I knew they were happening, but I didn't watch. I can't. It's not because I'm more pious than the next guy; it's just that part of me really wants everything embodied in that annual glamourous, fashionable, skimpy cool-o-thon. To me, MTV has always represented the best, brightest, hippest & latest that the world has to offer. And the truth is, part of me is very drawn to it. That's why I never watch it.

One of Jesus' closest friends once said that you can't love God & love the values & mindset of a world opposed to God. I've found this to be true. If I watch MTV or its award show, I end up feeding my love of anti-God values & stifling my love for my holy creator. But that's not what I'm writing about. I'm here to talk about Madonna & Britney.

I'm sure by now you've heard about their stunt that happened back in August of last year, but can you remember the shock of learning that Madonna, Britney & Christina Aguilera sang & danced to "Like a Virgin," the low-point of which was Madonna planting what any self-respecting 7-year-old would describe as a "yucky" kiss on Britney.

I read all this, & this really sad feeling blanketed me. First, because the whole stupid gimmick worked so well- Madonna & Britney kissed to get attention, & there I was, tripping over myself the next day in my rush to read about it. But I was also sad at the realization of just how lost our world is & how quickly we descend into darkness in our search for titillation.

This last year I spent a solid four months thinking about & studying lust in the lives of men & women. I was asking the question: "What is God's standard for sexual purity? What is lust? How are Christians supposed to live as sexual creatures in a way that honors God?"

One of the things I came away with was the realization that lust can never be satisfied. Lust is craving sexually what God has forbidden. It's wanting what you don't have & weren't meant to have. That's why lust can never be satisfied. As soon as you give it what it wants, it wants something more.

Ephesians 4:19, in describing people who harden their hearts to God, says, "Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more." The payoff of lust is a continual lust for more, so lust can never be quenched. The only way to escape it is to deny it. The more you give it, the more it wants.

I saw that principle at work in Madonna & Britney's kiss. It wasn't enough to just have Madonna writhing around the stage singing her song. We needed Britney & Christina. But these days even three scantily clad pop stars aren't enough to catch people's attention. And I guess Madonna & Britney knew that. They instinctively knew that to hold the attention of their audience, they had to give them something more, to indulge their lust even more, to take their suggestiveness to another level. So they threw in a little homoeroticism. They kissed.

Part of my sadness in that moment was realizing that unless God mercifully intervenes, the next generation's enslavement to lust will be worse than my generation's bondage. I grew up with Madonna- with her music & her career built on ever-increasingly shocking exposure of herself. But what's left to expose? What does she have left to show to the public? Her kidneys? Her spleen? Seriously, what is left? So here she is, passing on her mantle to a willing new pupil in Britney. What will Britney have to do to keep our attention?

I said a prayer for Madonna & Britney that day as I read the newspaper. I'm just as deserving of God's wrath as they are, & He mercifully saved me. I hope God rescues them. I know He can. In the meantime I'm trying to focus on the things I can affect- my own heart. That's where I need to root out lust. That's where I need to daily ask the question, "Am I appeasing lust or opposing it? Am I believing the lie that it can satisfy me more than God can?"

And when Madonna or Britney come into view- on a TV screen or a magazine cover- I do my best to look the other way. Not because I'm better, but because the lust that fuels their fame is resident in my heart. And my lust could never see enough of Madonna or Britney to be satisfied. My best bet is to take God at His word, to run hard after holiness & to stick to the sports page.

(Joshua Harris is a pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, & offer of several books, including Not Even a Hint: Guarding Your Heart Against Lust. You can read his weblog at www.JoshHarris.com. This article originally appeared in Relevant Magazine. Used with permission of the author. Check it out at www.relevantmagazine.com.)


Jim Dewar --