The Super Bowl’s Other Gospel

I refuse to Celebrate Bad Bunny.

People love to say, “It’s just entertainment,” yet the heart never treats it as a throwaway. The heart is always being trained. What we applaud becomes what we crave.

Worthy of Our Attention

Some shows simply are not worthy of our attention, not because the beat is loud or the lights are bright, but because the message they carry asks the soul to celebrate what God calls unclean.

Paul wrote to a church that knew the same heat, a different costume for the same old human trouble.

Here is the text that governs this whole matter:

“I plead with Euodia and I plead with Syntyche to agree with each other in the Lord.”
“Yes, and I ask you, loyal yoke-fellow, help these women… whose names are in the book of life.”
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble

keep going

“…whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.”
“Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”
Philippians 4:2–9

The Lord Is Near

I listened in the background to the Bad Bunny show, and I did not need English to understand the liturgy of the modern stage. The world still sells the same gospel. Desire without restraint. Bodies without dignity. Pleasure without covenant. Words that treat women like props. Men who learn to laugh at sin because laughter makes it feel harmless.

Sometimes the sin comes with a flag and a guitar and a grin. Kid Rock has lyrics that are hard to read out loud. One line from “Rock N Roll Jesus” dares to call him “your rock n roll Jesus,” taking the sweetest name in heaven and pinning it to swagger. Another lyric that has been widely cited in recent controversy includes a line about liking girls “underage.” That is not an edgy joke, that’s the stench of exploitation.

Lust Speaks Every Language

Sometimes the sin comes with a dance beat and a hook you can’t get out of your head. Bad Bunny’s “Tití Me Preguntó” boasts about serial romance, the casual parade of girlfriends, a line like “Hoy tengo a una, mañana otra.” Today one, tomorrow another. It teaches the heart to treat people like products on a shelf. And when sacred words are pulled into pop context, such as invoking the Trinitarian formula in “Una Velita,” you can feel how easily holy language becomes a prop, something carried onto the stage like a costume.

Whether a man speaks English or Spanish, the human heart understands the message. The language of lust is fluent in every nation.

So what should a Christian do?

Paul does not begin by yelling at the pagan world. He begins by shepherding the saints.

Pray Yourself Empty

He calls the church to peace with each other, and he roots it “in the Lord.” The cross is the center. It means you and I share the same mercy and the person you disagree with is written in the same book of life, sealed by the same Savior, carried by the same grace. That reality shrinks many disagreements down to their proper size. The argument that felt huge starts to look like a pebble in your shoe when you remember eternity.

Then Paul moves to the peace of God inside the believer.

“Do not be anxious about anything…”

The air in our age is anxious air. You breathe it all day in news alerts, outrage, doom scrolling, performance, pressure. And anxiety has a cousin that people call discernment but often looks like agitation. It tightens the jaw. It makes the fingers restless. It makes the soul hungry for distraction.

Paul gives a different practice.

“In everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”

Not just once, but again and again. You bring the fear like a sack of rocks and you set it down and you pick it up again ten minutes later. You bring it back. You set it down again. This is what it means to pray yourself empty. The worry returns like a dog scratching at the door at midnight. You stand up, you take it by the collar, you lead it back to the Lord. You do that as many times as it takes.

And Paul promises something.

“The peace of God… will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Guard is a military word. Like a garrison or a watchman with a lamp in his hand, walking the wall. The peace of God stands at the gate of your mind and refuses entry to thoughts that would dethrone Christ. It keeps you from cynicism and from wandering.

Philippians 4:8 Test

Now we come to the hinge that makes this entire devotional land on halftime.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true… noble… right… pure… lovely… admirable… excellent… praiseworthy… think about such things.”

Paul does not say, “Try to avoid bad stuff.” He gives you a positive command with bright edges and tells you what deserves your attention. Your mind is not a vacant lot…it is a garden. Something grows there every day. What you water will spread.

This is where Christians get confused in cultural moments. They ask, “Is it allowed?” Paul asks, “Is it worthy?” They ask, “Can I watch?” Paul asks, “What will it train you to celebrate?” They ask, “Which side should I take?” Paul asks, “Will your gentleness be evident to all?”

The question is not, “Which halftime show fits my tribe?” The question is, “What is forming my taste?”

A man can spend three hours watching bodies used as merchandise, hearing sex treated like a joke, hearing sacred words dragged across a stage floor, and then kneel afterward and wonder why prayer feels thin. The mind has been fed, and it has been fed poorly. A Christian learns to protect the mind the way a farmer protects seed corn. You don’t throw it in the mud and expect a harvest.

That is why I am not interested in celebrating either performance.

I am not interested in pretending that profanity becomes clean when it is wrapped in patriotism and I am not interested in pretending that objectification becomes art when it is wrapped in rhythm. No Christian should be interested in taking sides in a false argument, as though choosing one performer against the other makes the heart pure.

Philippians 4 does not teach me to trade one idol for another. It teaches me to rejoice in the Lord.

Joy in the Lord has a different texture. It can walk into a room full of opinions and speak with gentleness. See the world’s glitter and call it cheap without calling people worthless.

Christ Remains

So here is a better celebration for a Sunday night.

Rejoice in the Lord always. Put the weight of your happiness on a Savior who does not change. Practice gentleness in your house, on your phone, in your church foyer. Take your anxieties to God until they stop coming back. Train your mind on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy.

And do not stop at thinking.

“Whatever you have learned… put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.”

That is the promise. The God of peace with you. Close enough for your children to notice and close enough for your coworkers to sense something different.

Halftime will come and go as the commercials fade from memory. The arguments will burn out like a fire that ate all its wood.

Christ remains.

His name does not belong to a stage. His joy does not need a spotlight, as His peace stands guard over a mind that has learned to worship with its attention.