Earlier today, I snagged a copy of Katy Perry’s new album.  By snagged I mean that I bought it from iTunes, but snagged sounds better.  I’m disappointed with the album. Katy Perry doesn’t have a particularly strong voice, so the number of ballads made the album feel completely underwhelming.  I sincerely hoped the entire album had a California Gurls vibe, but it was a lot more Teenage Dream than anything else. In any case, the album does have a few good songs, and I suppose it was a better purchase than three cans of  Red Bull.

Having listened to it beginning to end with no pauses, stops, or repeats – the way I always listen to a new album -I decided it was complete pop fluff with one exception: Who Am I Living For?

Check it out (and ignore the certain air of cheese, that seems obligatory when making this sort of video. And the spelling/grammar mistakes, for that matter. I did not make this video):

I am ready for the road less traveled
Suiting up for my crowning battle
This test is my own cross to bear
But I will get there

It’s never easy to be chosen, never easy to be called
Standing on the frontline when the bomb starts to fall
I can see the heavens but I still hear the flames
Calling out my name

I can see the writing on the wall
I can’t ignore this war
At the end of it all
Who am I living for?

This really stuck out as a timely reminder to always consider who I’m living for.

You can suit up to do battle, walk the least traveled road, and bear the most difficult cross, but, at the end of it all, what does it matter if you’re doing it for yourself or for purely selfish motivations?  The thing that keeps me forging ahead, no matter how difficult it may be, is the knowledge I’m not living for me. Although I’m not a particular fan of The Purpose Driven Life, I believe everyone should open the book and read the first line: “It’s not about you!”  Living out our selfishness and narcissistic tendencies may lead to the appearance of success, but it doesn’t lead to purpose of fulfillment.

Here’s a little something upon which I’ve been reflecting:

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Philippians 2:1-11 (The Message)