Ordinary Girl...

The other day, for some reason or the other I was looking at new music on Itunes, that part is not the unusual part, the part that is out of the ordinary is I clicked on new songs by...wait for it...Hannah Montana. The reason in which that should be weird is one, I am a male; two, I am over the age of 13; and third, it's Hannah Montana. Anyhow, I clicked on the new release for the new season of Hannah Montana and the song is called "Ordinary Girl". I found this title a bit ironic, in light of the current media frenzy that is surrounding Miley Cyrus. There has been a lot of talk about her racier new image, the fact that she is a Christian and yet is dressing and acting just like every other girl pop star out there, there seems to be nothing that is setting her apart from everybody else. The Christian circles have added to the frenzy in saying that she is unfit to be a role model and that she is "dressing like a lady of the night", I put it a little bit nicer than they worded it. So now I am thinking about all of this and I click 'buy', because I was intrigued. I listened to the song and instead of the response of, "what a bad example, what a let down," my response caught me off guard; my heart went out to her. Just a little disclaimer before I lose you: I do not think it is appropriate at all for young girls to promote their bodies instead of their talent, or do I think that anyone bearing the title of Christian should look just like the world. Now that we have that out of the way let us continue, shall we? My heart truly did break for her. I thought to myself, here is a seventeen old girl, who loves the Lord, yet has stumbled, and the community of believers that is suppose to encourage and help her back up has thrown stones. As I think about the response some followers of Christ have given, I had to ask my self a very piercing question, "what would Jesus do with Miley Cyrus?" Would he persecute her or love her? Would he call her names and boycott her or would he lover her? Would he help her up if she fell, or would he kick her why she is down? The Jesus that I read of in the Bible, when faced with an opportunity to persecute someone caught in sin, gave them love instead. Well, if we bear the name of Christ, shouldn't we love people the same way he did? Shouldn't we, instead of kicking those that have fallen, help them up? This was a question that haunted me. I don't want to be the person that picks out the spec in others eyes while I have a tree sticking out of mine. Lord, please don't let me be that person. We are called to stand up for what is right, but we are also called to Love. So how can we do both? Well, instead of telling all of our friends how horrible we think this struggling seventeen year old is, maybe we write her an encouraging note. A note about how we understand how hard it is to live out your faith in the public eye; that she should hang in there. Or maybe we pray for her everyday; pray that the Lord would make her path straight. I don't know all the answers, but I do know that there has to be a better way. It is amazing what you can learn just by listening to a song. Who knew that God would teach me a lesson from Hannah Montana? I pray that when given the choice whether to throw the stone or bestow love on someone that does not deserve it, that we will choice what Christ chose. Instead of casting the stone, he got up on the cross and gave his life, so that I could be a part of what he is doing. I pray that I will choose love. Let us all choose love, for that is the way the world will know us.