On Kanye
By all accounts, Kanye West has become a Christian. It’s the main topic of Christian websites and blogs, and a great many sites that are not Christian. It’s a big story. One of the world’s most popular entertainers with a massive influence on culture just released an album entitled ‘Jesus is King’. He is happy to speak about his faith to anyone who asks him on any interview show, and it is confusing everyone. How can this previously brash egomaniac suddenly tone down his rhetoric, submit to another, and release an album of gospel songs?
The secular press is just confused. Unfortunately, many Christian commentators have been expressing their scepticism and disbelief. I understand that it seems odd to have Kanye West as a spokesperson for Christianity! But let’s be honest: everyone who becomes a Christian is unexpected and a miracle. It is no less a miracle when an upstanding moral businessperson becomes a Christian compared to a hedonistic rock star. In each case, a completely lost person, someone dead in their sins, has been made alive by the work of the Spirit applying Jesus’ victory to them.
I don’t know Kanye and cannot see his heart. But it is hard to see how this could be an act designed to increase his popularity and sales! As far as we can tell, it looks authentic. And this should be reason for rejoicing over a lost sinner saved rather than scepticism, thinking it cannot be true. Of course, it could be true; God can save anyone.
It is easy, once you have been a Christian for a while, to move on from the wonder of grace to some kind of moralism. And that is a disaster. If we ever start to think that we are deserving to be a Christian and some other person is not deserving, we’ve lost grace. All Christians are saved sinners and need to welcome whatever saved sinner God decides to send them.
A famous persecutor of the church named Saul of Tarsus was converted suddenly and unexpectedly on the road to Damascus many years ago. When this news was spread, the local Christians didn’t believe it, and they were reluctant to meet with him. It was proved to be true and remarkable. God can save the worst of sinners, and that is a wonderful truth.
All Christians need to strive to serve Jesus as best we can where God has placed us. That might be in our families, our neighbourhoods, or our workplaces. Kanye West has an unusually large influence on our culture, and his voice is heard in places no preacher can get to. People are speaking about Jesus, looking up ‘Jesus is King’ on the internet, and surely that is a good thing. Let’s pray for Kanye and all who have come to know Jesus, for faithfulness, for perseverance, and for growth.