My formerly religious-stained mind is always seeing traces (and often huge chunks) of legalism in various things, even things that have nothing to do with Christian doctrine. LOL. It's not as if I seek these things out... they just come to me! Ha ha! And so in fun, but with a tinge of seriousness, I present this song to you from a different perspective than is intended by the song. Rather than a man acting tough for his woman, think of all the religious (read: legalistic) Christians out there for whom this song would be their mantra before God. "Look at all the things I'll do for You!" Or "Look at all the things I've done for You!" "Ain't that tough enough?"
And then thank God that we don't have to act tough in front of Him, and that His pleasure in us isn't based one bit on what we (think we can) do for Him!
I found a video for the song on youtube, but the audio quality wasn't all that great, plus it's more of a PG rated video than a G rated video (might be slightly offensive to some) so it's just as well. In lieu of that, then, I created playlist on playlist.com with just this one song! (See another playlist I created at the very bottom of this blog, with lots more songs). By the way, whoever is hosting this particular song on the internet incorrectly calls it "Tough Enough."
You know, Joel, I have been thinking lately about what you mentioned about the attitude of, "Look what I did for you!" And when I'm tempted to feel condemnation for the lack of accomplishments as a Christian, I believe the Spirit reminds me of the passage in Matthew chapter 7. Jesus told us that there will be people who say, "Lord, have we not done many mighty works in Your name??" And He will tell them, "I never knew you". "But we dedicated our lives to doing all this stuff for You!!"
ReplyDeleteI've heard people use Matthew chapter 7 as saying "Look! If you don't do the will of God, you'll be condemned!" and right they are. But what is the will of God? Is it to work their butts off for Him? Obviously not. It is to, "Believe in the One whom He has sent."
Amen... and I know that truth is very overlooked in the church today. The work of God is to believe.
ReplyDeleteI remember when I first began my 'serious walk' with God. I felt as if I was bored (having unfortunately chucked many of my non-Christian friends aside, or at least keeping at a distance) and as if I wasn't doing anything. I asked God to give me things to do, and I don't know if He brought all these ideas upon me to settle me down or if it was just my own zeal without knowledge, but suddenly I was flooded with thoughts of all kinds of things that I could "do for the Lord." My landlord was selling some property and I thought I could use the land and building as a place to feed the poor and homeless. I could be a missionary. I could do this. I could do that. I could... all kinds of things! I went from being very bored to being very overwhelmed at all the things I "could" do for the Lord. And I was frustrated to no end! I do think the Lord used this to eventually show me that this life is not about all the things I can do as a busy servant for the Lord. There's just no way I could've done all the stuff I thought about. I would've burned out and died.
Thankfully I came to realize that the work of God is to believe, and the true labor and the true fruit comes out of resting, abiding, in the Vine. :)