That’s the first verse from “Love Song” by Sara Barielles. When Sara wrote these lyrics she felt like she was under pressure from her record label to write a popular love song so that they would continue her career. The resulting song speaks about her resentment at being put under pressure to perform to others expectations, OR ELSE!
Sara nails the nature of human relationships, especially when it comes to business. Why is it that so often celebrities crash and burn? (Charlie Sheen anyone?). Perhaps it’s because their relationships with their agents and the press are conditional. The major condition of these relationships is that the celebrity is expected to sustain certain level of performance and if it is not achieved then the celebrity will find themselves dropped like a hot coal into the oblivion of D-list status. They are slaves to obey the law of “perform or see you later”.
Maybe we’ve experienced this when someone we thought was a friend abandons us when we let them down.
The solution to this problem isn’t “choose your friends better” or “perform better” but it’s that there is someone out there who loves you despite the fact you don’t come anywhere near his required standard of performance. He once said to those who felt like they were drowning because of the burden of their sinful hearts “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” We can be happy in His hands because He demands nothing from us; instead He did it all for us.
We finally got around to seeing The Social Network. It’s the 40 percent true story of the beginnings of facebook.com and a fascinating study of human nature; in particular our overdeveloped sense of entitlement.
**Spoiler Alert**
The movie reveals the plot by flicking between past events and the inevitable court case. Basically the Winklevoss brothers sue Mark Zuckerberg for stealing their social networking website idea. It appears Mark Z started his own social networking website whilst employed to create one for the Winklevosses. Mark Z claims his “The Facebook” bears little resemblance to the idea the Winklevosses had pitched to him, but they try to sue him anyway.
All of us have a sense of entitlement; that is, what we think the world owes us. It’s easy to deny it until someone uses your idea first then makes a shed-load of money out of it. Thanks to the legal system, you can try to get what you think you deserve even though you did no work to earn it. As the US Circuit Court of Appeals said when the Winklevosses’ appeal failed this year "The Winklevosses are not the first parties bested by a competitor who then seek to gain through litigation what they were unable to achieve in the marketplace”
Human entitlement rears its ugly head with regards to God also. When we get sick, lose a job, lose a family member, become victims of a natural disaster etc, our first reaction is to cry out “Why me God? I don’t deserve this! Why do bad things happen to good people? How could you allow this to happen to me God?” We believe we are good and so God owes us only good things. In reality we are not good and God owes us nothing (just ask Job). Shocking I know!
We live at God’s mercy. Every breath we take is because He allows it. Every good thing God has given us is because He is gracious, merciful, kind and patient. His goodness towards ungrateful human beings is shown to us in His Son Jesus Christ. Imagine if Mark Z gave Facebook to the Winklvosses (valued in 2010 at $41 billion). He would be broke, and they would be richer than you or I can ever imagine. So much more than this, Jesus Christ gave up everything He was entitled to (His place in heaven where He owned the whole world), to come and be born beside an animal feeding trough, to suffer and be killed at the hands of His own creation, so that He could give us something we don’t deserve – forgiveness of sins and eternal life with Him.
From an article written by my Hub at the cross-eyed blog:
"The press will say “New Zealand Won!” but the country didn’t actually do anything. It was those 15 men who represented the rest of us. They were the ones who broke through the strong defense. They were the ones who held back the strong offence. They were the ones who scored the try and the penalty kick needed to win the game. All we could do was watch and cheer them on, and yet we somehow receive the glory. New Zealand wins! The All Blacks represented us, and we all receive the spoils!
In Christianity this is known as ‘Imputed Righteousness’. A big fancy term that just means – Jesus won the game for us! God’s standards are high. He expects us to be perfect; to never sin; in short - to love God above everything else, and to love others more than we love ourselves. If we are honest then we know we are unfit for the kingdom of God. We don’t have a chance. The sin team is wiping the floor with us."
...now click on the link above and read the good news at the end of the article!
Remember Adam Sandler’s long haired crazy mate in the movie “Bedtime Stories”? He was played by rising British comedian Russell Brand, aka Katy Perry’s other half. Mockingbird recently posted a BBC interview with him on youtube. He was hocking his autobiography of course but the interviewer raised some questions regarding the nature of fame and the answers Russell gave were fascinating.
(I enjoyed the whole interview but below are the parts that really resonated with me)
Jeremy Paxton: Why did you want to be famous?
Russell Brand: I grew up in industrial Essex...The idea of something glistening yet visceral were very appealing to me. Fame is seemingly accessible even when you live in areas when it's miles and miles away from you...
JP: Why is it so many people crave celebrity now?
RB: Because we're presented with the attractive spectacle of fame to distract us from the mundanity of our everyday lives, it's bread and circuses Jeremy.
JP: In that case it's utterly empty
RB: Of course
JP: In itself it's not something worth striving for
RB: It has absolutely no value in itself, it's a spectacle or an illusion, a distraction. All of us are aware of that.
JP: What happens to you when it finally arrives?
RB: ...you have the initial thrill of achievement, oh my word, the same as if you'd acquired a pair of shoes that you'd long craved and then you realize that the shoes are too tight, they ain't that comfortable, I want another pair of shoes. Walking around in these things ain't the same as I thought it would be. And you realize that you need nutrition from a higher source something more valuable. Celebrity in and of itself is utterly, utterly vacuous. It's like being presented with the most glorious meal and then when you eat it there's no taste, there's no succor, there's no nutrition. It's tiresome.
JP: You don't regret seeking celebrity and the effect it's had on you?
RB: No, because what else would I be doing? Having spent a great proportion of my life not being famous, that didn't have any particular value either. I didn't particularly enjoy working as a scab labourer, as a postman. I didn't particularly enjoy working in pubs, or selling ink cartridges for Hewlett Packard. These weren't salvation either. It weren't to be found there. So, no I don't regret it but now that I'm here, I wonder if it's possible to use it to acquire something more valuable, more beautiful... we're making this documentary currently on the subject of fame and consumerism and the way that we're sold these narratives and the way they keep us dumb and the way that I, myself was seduced by it… growing up in Essex and thought 'oh yes, I want to be famous' and now I am famous and what does it mean? Ashes in my mouth.
Do these sentiments sound familiar to you? Have you ever read the thoughts of King Solomon; the most powerful, rich man of his time?
“…Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content...”
“… So I became greater than all who had lived in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom never failed me. Anything I wanted, I would take. I denied myself no pleasure. I even found great pleasure in hard work, a reward for all my labors. But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless—like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere.”
Russell has a way to go before he hits Solomon’s standard of living yet even if he gets there he will still not be satisfied. How did Solomon conclude this “chasing after the wind” that is life?
“The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
Or as Paul would say “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ"
Gisele Bundchen: Brazilian supermodel, brand ambassador, yoga master, wife to famous footballer and mother. Now infamous for stating in a Harper’s Bazaar interview that there should be a worldwide law making all mothers breastfeed for a minimum of six months. Usually I don’t care for celebrity opinion pieces but this fact caught my attention: Gisele breastfeed her own son for only three weeks.
In many ways Gisele is unlike us (see opening sentence) but I think this incident reveals that in fact she is just like us. What do I mean? Gisele set a standard (law) for herself and others to obey. But then she didn’t follow the standard herself. Hypocrite! But before you throw your rocks, haven’t you had that happen to you plenty of times too? Diet plans gone awry anyone?
So if we can’t even keep our own laws, how on earth are we going to able to keep God’s laws which are a much higher standard than the laws we set for ourselves? (see Luke 10:27)
Don’t despair! There is a way for lawbreakers like us to make it in God’s eyes even while we are not making it in our own eyes: through faith in the One who kept the law on our behalf. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Romans 8:1-4).
