One of my favorite people in the world is Amy Grant. I have never met her, but I would love to. I have never questioned the message of any of her music, and it has been meaningful and beneficial to me throughout my life. Amy Grant is releasing her first new album in ten years, and I am very excited to gain once again from her wisdom.
Today I listened closely to the lyrics in her new song, "Don't Try So Hard," and I am curious how the Christian community will respond. I know a lot of individuals who strive and stress themselves out in the name of pursuing sainthood. This is where the age old idea of "religious/pharisaical guilt" comes in, trying to appease a demanding, never-satisfied God and continually clear your soul of sin's stains.
Other Christians will tell, much as Amy Grant does in this song, such individuals to simply relax, and that their sins are forgiven by God's past sacrifice for all sins for all time, so "don't try so hard" because God's mercy and grace wash over us and we should just rest and trust in God's mercy.
I think that an overly rigorous approach to sin and proving yourself "just" by your own repentance, confession, and behavior modification is to be avoided, because it reinforces a sense of self-righteousness and working/earning one's spotless state before God. These people should listen to the message of Amy Grant's newest song.
On the other hand, the presumptuous people who forget that Jesus absolutely did try so hard for us to the point of torture and crucifixion, should probably ignore the message of this song and instead read the book of James to kick them into action rather than sitting back and resting on the sacrifice and pain and suffering that Jesus willingly endured on our behalf.
Certainly, an interesting tension exists, because Christ did successfully "try so hard" on our behalf so that we do not have to; in fact we cannot try hard enough. So "trying hard" is a futile and dangerous slippery slope to earning our own salvation. However, we must also imitate our Lord and our God, Jesus Christ, by working hard to show God's mercy and love to others, to root out sin in our own lives, and to grow in the virtues listed in the Beatitudes.
What side are you most inclined to take in hearing this song? I am inclined to support the message of the song, although I know others who will fight tooth and nail that we need to "try harder," but I think that is because they have invested much of their life and time in (trying to) approve themselves in God's eyes, although His greatest pleasure comes from us calling him 'Abba' and placing our hearts in his hand.
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