Photo by Nikolai Ulltang
God’s grace is big enough. It’s big enough to change anyone. I’ve been concerned about the response of fellow Christians who have decided based on very limited information that Kanye West is not genuinely on the path toward pursuing God. My concerns don’t depend on whether he is authentically following Christ or not. My concern comes from Christians deciding that someone is too bad, too far gone or perhaps even too weird to experience life altering conversion.
When Paul was first converted, Christians were afraid to believe the good news as well. After all, here was a man who persecuted, tormented and taunted Jesus and his followers. Now he is saying that he had experienced a personal encounter with the Lord. You can see why people were leery maybe even wondering if this was a trap. Saul, who was later renamed Paul had been a passionate advocate of the Law. It probably seemed unlikely if not impossible that someone so passionate could change his mind about something so important.
Thankfully several church leaders had been instructed by the Holy Spirit to take part in Saul, now Paul’s discipleship. Eventually, after time, the church leaders gladly received Paul as not only a brother in Christ, but also as a leader. They recognized the call of God on his life. I believe we can use this Biblical instance as a guide on how to correctly respond to this type of situation.
1) As a leader, be obedient to the Holy Spirit.
Mature believers were prompted by the Holy Spirit to reach out to Paul. At first, they were even hesitant as it could be dangerous for them if Paul was not genuine. Ananais risked everything in reaching out to Paul. His reputation and even his life, yet he followed the leading of God to heal Paul and to get him plugged into the right people so that he could be discipled.
2) Don’t allow fear and past disappointments to keep you from believing in God’s transforming power.
Do we believe what we say we believe? We say that the resurrection power of Jesus can transform even the most wicked and messed up of people. Yet when it appears that may have happened right before our eyes, we judge and criticize the person. If early Christians would have done this with Paul, we would have lost one of our greatest teachers and almost half of the New Testament!
3) Support those who are confessing Jesus as their Lord.
The early Church risked all and supported, trained and encouraged someone who had been violently against them but was now confessing Christ. I can’t help but think of the recent testimony of another brave young man who publicly forgave and witnessed to the woman who murdered his older brother. Look at how she responded! She wept, ran to receive his forgiveness. Ananais called Paul brother.
We cannot withhold our love while we wait to see the fruits of a person’s repentance. We have to risk all and love, disciple and support those who are confessing the faith. Time will tell all too soon. What difference will it make if you treat them as a brother or sister in the meantime? Perhaps even if they are ingenuine, your authentic Christ like love will win them over!
Our Lord did this with Judas. He treated him as a brother. Jesus explains this in a parable about the wheat and the tares. He says to let them grow up together, because sometimes you can’t tell the difference between the two, but in the end time tells. In the meantime, treat and serve them with love.
4) The church gave Paul some time.
We are all works in progress. Some things might change radically in our lives upon surrendering to him, and other things may be lifelong struggles. Being a public person can mean that your life is in the spotlight. Your faults are on display for all to see. What things would the media find out and publicize about your life if you were famous in some way?
You can wait and see without having a bad attitude. It seems like some people are so afraid to believe these things are true that they are almost rooting for Kanye’s failure. I don’t think the root of this is because Christians are unkind or unloving. In fact, I think many times it can come from our past hopes in seeing a life changed being disappointed. But we can’t let those times keep us from believing that Christ is still in the transforming business. Lives can and do radically change.
Give grace because you need grace.
5) God delights in using the most unlikely characters.
Moses, Sampson, Gideon, David, John the Baptist and Saul are all unlikely characters to be used by God. God rejoices in doing this! So why do we seem surprised that he may be doing it again? Instead of responding negatively and having a I’ll believe it when I see it attitude, we should be waiting expectantly for the next great testimony. Of course, we need to allow time to take its toll on the commitment of those who are professing Christianity, but perhaps it’s time to do this in hope and excitement rather than doubt and cynicism.
I believe that there is no greater miracle than that which happens when a person’s life transitioned from darkness to light. I believe that we are promised that there will be a great revival before the Lord’s return. Therefore, I am not surprised, but rather delighted when I hear that someone so prominent boldly professing his new-found faith. I pray that he be surrounded by those who will be able to guide and disciple him, those who may look past the fear of tainting their own reputation. I pray that Christians everywhere would pray for Kanye and his family for a genuine transformation in his life. I resolve to give him time to allow him to be conformed to the image of Christ. I delight in the fact that God is using the most unlikely of characters, and pray that I would be deemed worthy to be one of them.
