So I’m sitting at a conference, playing on my cell phone and waiting for a session to begin, and I get a tweet from amazonmp3.com – Daily Deal: Paramore’s new album, Brand New Eyes.  $3.99 today.

So of course, I bought it on the spot.  As I listened through the album, one of the songs caught my attention.  It’s track number five, called “Turn it Off.”  Check out some of the lyrics (although they’re better if you listen to Hayley Williams sing them here - http://tinyurl.com/paramore-5 ).

I scraped my knees when I was praying

And found a demon in my safest haven

Seems like it's getting harder to believe in anything

And just to get lost in all my selfish thoughts

I wanna know what it'd be like
To find perfection in my pride

To see nothing in the light

I'll turn it off in all my spite

In all my spite I'll turn it off

It brings up some interesting ideas that are emerging around us today.  I see a trend – with young people especially – that they have given up on religion.  In their book, un-Christian, Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons surveyed sixteen to twenty-nine year olds to discover this generation’s perception of Christianity.  Among the top responses from their research were two words: judgmental and hypocritical.  As Paramore tells us, many young people are disillusioned with Christianity, and they are finding it easier to turn inward to their own thoughts rather than to listen to what Christians may be saying.  In their frustration they have chosen to turn off their desire for God or spirituality.  Just ignore the desire for something greater; just look inside yourself to find what you’re looking for.  Just turn it off.

Ironically, it is within the song itself that we as Christians can find a clue as to how to meet the “Turn it Off” generation where they are.  The song continues…

And the worst part is

Before it gets any better

We're headed for a cliff

And in the free fall I will realize

I'm better off when I hit the bottom

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul shares that God gave him a “thorn” to keep him from being too prideful. Bothered and brought down by this difficulty, Paul begged for God to take it away.  God’s response?  He tells Paul that His grace is enough and that His power is made perfect in Paul’s weakness.

We can learn a lot from this.  Sometimes as Christians we feel like we have to have all the answers, we have to be above struggles, we have to be strong.  But Paul is reminding us that, in fact, we have to be weak!  Well, we don’t have to try to be weak, we just have to admit our weaknesses.  If we always put our best foot forward, if we constantly show others our Sunday best, we create a false image of what it means to follow Christ.  We give others the idea that we are different than they are, better than they are.  But to be redeemed means to remember where we’ve come from – and what we are constantly being saved from.  Before we get better, we have to hit the bottom.  God lifts us up and gives us victory – for sure!  But we cannot forget where we have come from; we cannot forget that only in Him are we strong.  Jesus’ kingdom is upside-down.  Remember, what He told His disciples - it is when you are poor, mourning, hungry, and thirsty that you are blessed (Matthew 5:1-11).  If we can take the step to be vulnerable, to admit that we are frail and weak and nothing without Him, maybe the world will start to see us as genuine and loving instead of judgmental and hypocritical.  I agree with Paramore, I’m better off when I hit the bottom.  But that’s not the worst part – it’s actually the best part.  It’s what being redeemed is all about, living with brand new eyes – eyes that see the world upside-down, where weakness is strength and we are willing to share our thorns.

 
 
So I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
~ 2 Corinthians 12:9-10