Is Scotty McCreery an Idol, a Hero or Merely a Boy?

With all the hoopla swirling around Scotty McCreery since he won American Idol last week, it's given me pause to reflect on the significance of earning such a title in our corrupt culture.  Given the nature of the production and his age, is seventeen year old Scotty truly a model of excellence?  For his age, he appears to be a thoughtful boy, and those who know him attest to the uprightness of his character.  His mom chaperons and guides him wherever he goes.  She is older, but is she wiser as she has led her impressionable young son into participating in such worldliness?  What has Scotty done that has presto-chango turned him into an instant hero?  Has he selflessly saved lives?  Has he sacrificially laid down his life for another?  What heroic act has he performed?  Has he displayed distinguished courage?  Can we admire him for his brave deeds and noble qualities?  Realistically, how noble can one be at age seventeen?  Has he earned the title of Prince?  Have years of experience of walking with Jesus made him a mentor, a sage or a counselor?  He certainly has attained fame, recognition, fortune, and popularity.  It's evident that he is regarded with blind admiration, adoration and devotion, but does that make him someone exemplary, or is he a mere image of something visible but lacking in substance?  Is he a figment of our imagination - a fantasy of what we want him to be?


I concur that he has moxie as a singer, but he has simply cultivated a God-given gift.  Without that, he would never have made it onto the stage of American Idol.  Can we admire him for something with which God has blessed him?  At opportune moments, Scotty does appear to give God the glory for His success, but is this genuine, and how can a seventeen year old understand all that entails?  How can we tell at his young age?  The statistics prove that most freshman in college, who purported to be Jesus' disciples while still in high school, fall away from their Lord, Master, and Saviour into lives of narcissism.  Is Scotty simply parroting his parents' faith as they've guided and instructed him to do?  Will the faith he proclaims to have in Jesus remain as the trials, persecutions, sufferings and pain of this life inevitably come?  How will he react to shattered dreams?  Will he allow Jesus to refine him into deeper purity and holiness or will he fall away from his first love?  Jesus' own words in Matthew 7:14 are quite sobering, " But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."  Will Scotty be included among the few to find eternal life?  That remains to be seen, does it not?  He's still only a boy.  Scotty will require much guidance from those older and wiser in their walks with the Lord.  Many prayers will need to be prayed on his behalf.  Many hours must be spent by Scotty in Bible reading and study.  Even then, there is no guarantee that Scotty will "endure to the end" as Jesus says in Matthew 24:13 must occur, for one to acquire eternal life. 


As Timothy 4:12 declares,  "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity."  I pray this verse exemplifies Scotty's young life.  If it does, and his heart is right before God as he matures, maybe one day Scotty will be a hero and a mentor to his children and grandchildren, as well as to others.  That is yet to be determined.