The verdict is in. Cocaine and other health complications sent Whitney Houston to her grave. Such a sad way to silence one of the greatest voices to grace the airwaves. Whitney simply dominated the radio waves and the top 40 charts year after year. But her face also dominated the tabloid covers a fair share of her life. And in her life we are reminded of a terrible cosmic struggle and eternal choices that all of us must make. The world saw two sides of Whitney Houston. One was a big hearted singer who made her start singing in her Baptist church choir and continued to maintain close connection with gospel artists and religious leaders. The other Whitney Houston was a selfish, pleasure seeking individual who got caught up in scandal and vice. One side wanted to do good and one seemed to get caught up in what is not. Was she here to serve herself or was she here to serve others. That is the question that plagued her, her whole life.
The interesting thing is that the question of which was the real Whitney is a major portion of the debate going on in the media about her today. The week of her funeral I was watching CNN at the health club (not that I had a choice) and they were interviewing one of her friends. She was saying that Whitney should not be remembered for the problems and the scandals and the drugs but for ‘the beautiful voice she gave to the world’. And I agree. But the fact that they were having that conversation means that there was a war going on for the heart of that most famous songstress. I would suggest that Whitney lived her life trying to sit on both sides of the fence.
But God is saying we must make a choice. And those choices eventually will catch up with us. It will eventually become evident which choice we make. Luke 16:13 reminds us “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” It's sad that Whitney couldn't make up her mind who to serve (and it ended up costing her her life). But it's not too late for you to choose. Choose God. You will never regret it.
