The Valleys (according to MTV)

Pete Evans | 22:02, 27 September, 2012

"I want to be as rich and as famous as I can possibly be!"

So says one of the stars of MTV’s newest reality show The Valleys. It follows the fortunes of 9 young people who move from the South Wales valleys to Cardiff to make their fortune and 'live the dream'. In other words, they try to make as much money as possible, drink themselves stupid, and have sex with anyone who's up for it. I'm not recommending you watch it.  

The critics have so far been divided. Heat magazine called it "rude, raucous and utterly hilarious," but others have been less than impressed. Even Charlotte Church, who is no stranger to controversial TV herself, described it as an "exploitative and horrific representation of the country that I love."

The thing is, I don't agree with her. It's not a horrific representation of the country – for a wide section of our society, it is spot on. The housemates are taking the materialistic, hedonistic philosophies of our society to their logical extreme. The TV show is certainly not what I would choose to watch - there's not much to like. But let's not miss the call of the gospel to reach out to people whose lives bear close resemblance to those on the TV show.

None of this is new. The apostle Paul wrote about it 2000 years ago in 1 Corinthians 15, but even he was quoting the prophet Isaiah who noticed it in Jerusalem almost 1000 years before that! Paul said;

If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." (1 Cor 15:32)

When you take Jesus out of the picture, what is left is a destructive and empty version of humanity that lives for now but will ultimately pay for eternity. And it is not just the sex-hungry, alcohol-fuelled young people pouring down St Mary's Street on a Saturday night. 'Eat, drink, for tomorrow we die' is a philosophy espoused in middle-class suburbia too. You can have a nice house, a well-paid job, a respectable life, and still be living just for pleasure in the present.

We are inclined to stand on the fringes muttering about the disgraceful state of it all. But Jesus does something very different. He sends His church right into the thick of it, with the words 'I have come that they might have life and have it to the full'. (John 10:10) He sends us to desperately thirsty people, guzzling the poison of sin to try and quench a desperate thirst in their hearts for true life. He sends us with these words:

"Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:14)

How brilliant to see people change their life mission statement from 'I want to be as rich and as famous as I can possibly be' to 'To live is Christ and to die is gain'.

So next time you go into town on a Saturday night, or see an advert for 'The Valleys', or wave to your neighbour mowing their perfectly manicured lawn, remember what we're here for – to make Christ known for their good and His glory!