I entered Holy Week with a plan for a quiet, reverent post. I wanted to escape the distractions of this world and focus solely on my nail-pierced Savior wearing a crown of thorns for me…for you. Quite honestly, I struggled how, if at all, any words could be right on this page.
And then, of course, media had to blow up with news of Victoria’s Secret’s new “Bright Young Things” slogan, a racy addition to the PINK line that uses words like “Wild,” “Call me,” and more on their underwear. Backlash was immediate with parents everywhere fearing this new line was a direct attempt to entice tween buyers into their store, something Victoria’s Secret denies.
On the newsstand Seventeen magazine is not at all denying promotion of impure messages to tween and teen girls. Ashley Benson is on the cover promoting her new movie “Spring Breakers.” Unfamiliar with the plot, I googled the title and the images and descriptions that popped up on my screen made me want to wash my eyes out with soap. Sharing the screen with two former Disney stars, their work is not so innocent anymore. Drugs, nudity, and, (grab the puke bucket) even a threesome, is a part of this film. To cap it off, I read that Vanessa Hudgens used its message as a springboard for her new vocal track “$$$ex.” Young fans everywhere will follow their favorite stars into dangerous territory with unhealthy seeds planted in their mind.
Admittedly, the news frustrated me. These are not things that a Christian purity author with books for teens on healthy relationships and the influence of media can ignore.
But how Lord, and why? Why now?
There is no better time for this news to hit. THIS is why I died.
On Sunday evening my husband and I were watching “The Bible.” I was struck by the scene between Jesus and Peter and tweeted, “I can’t imagine Jesus hugging me and saying I’d deny Him and yet in reality it is our story every day. Thank you, Lord, for the cross.”
We claim relationship with Jesus as individuals. Each day He wraps His arms of perfect love around us yet we let our eyes wander and focus in on the imperfect loves of the world. For us as mothers, this might look like financial success, the perfect image, etc. For our girls, faltering could happen in relationships. They want to feel valuable and pursued.
And for us all it boils down to identity.
While I understand the reasoning behind a petition to pull the slogan and fully support (always) refusing to purchase this magazine as well as boycotting the movie, that alone will not resolve the problem. Even if it were all pulled there would still be need for discussion.
Because this isn’t an issue of what is happening around us so much as it is what is going on inside of us.
And, when we point out sin without explanation we make it the new forbidden fruit. Curiosity swells and our children will want to know why. Sadly, tasting and seeing becomes their way of learning and it only leads to pain.
So we can’t just praise what is good and curse what is bad.
This week reminds us in a very real way that we need to focus primarily on the Man at the center of the discussion. Because, if we communicate that we are so valued that He pursued us to the point of a torturous death well, they will trust the Lord’s heart. Our girls will make choices opposite the cultural grain without fight because they’ll want what He calls good and reject what is bad. They’ll know where healthy love is found and live wildly for Him.
It’s on the cross. For you. For me. For our girls.
