In 2008 Francesca Battistelli came on the Christian music scene with her debut CD “My Paper Heart” and the hit single “Free to be me”. The song is catchy and upbeat so like many such songs, it was severely overplayed by Christian radio stations. Now that a few years have passed, it is time we give this song another look and see how it relates to our discussion of the ideal person.
In a previous post, Neil spoke about the need to find significance in order to achieve the “ideal self”. As Christians, we can know that our significance is not dependant our achievements. We do not have to be successful businessmen, skilled doctors, or effective counselors in order to have a secure identity and an ideal self. Our significance is found in being a child of God and with that unshakable security, we are free to live and pursue our goals without fear. As Francesca Battistelli puts it:
On my own, I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me
As Lauren stated in her post about ideal functioning, “There is a level of subtle perfection that we feel must be achieved before we can be considered ‘normal’.” The world demands that we achieve this ideal state on our own or possibly supported by friends and family. We aren’t perfect though. Actually, we aren’t even close, and that is great! As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
So what is the ideal person? Someone continually becoming more like Christ Jesus and thereby becoming the person they were born to be. Carried on the shoulders of God, I am at last “free to be me”.
Indeed many of us seek to understand who we are. And it is certainly true that as believers in God, as redeemed children we know what the Bible says about us, namely that we can rest assured and secure that our identity is in Christ. However, in the light of the conversations we had in class today, where we were challenged to address both the material and the immaterial, I would take a stab at saying that the truth presented above will address mostly the immaterial aspect of our humanity. More precisely, in a spiritual sense we are children of God and that is great. However, I wonder what does that mean in practical terms? And how efficient is such a powerful truth in the material dimension of a person?!
ReplyDeleteBeing a child of God is an immaterial idea, but it means nothing if it doesn't impact your life in a practical way. In James 1:26 Paul writes "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." It is our immaterial self that animates and gives life to our material body. What I'm trying to say is that the body does not operate apart from the spirit. If you genuinely believe something, it will be observable in your life. Spiritually, I am a child of God so in the material world I will put my time and effort into pursuits that bring honor and glory to him.
ReplyDeleteI love this song! I also loved the part of the song that you quoted in your post. It is so comforting to know that we can find our freedom and identity in Christ and that we don't always have to be perfect. Like you were saying in your post, that God uses our weaknesses to show his glory as well as to build us up.
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