What We Need Instead of Girl Power

Even though we're mostly ignoring the myriad of other issues I have with girl power songs, I'm going to state a few of them here. Number one, why on earth are we always almost naked in the music videos? Are we really still presenting ourselves as sex objects? Feminists, we're moving backward here. And number two, what about boy power? I have a husband and three boys and they are all pretty rad. Ok, moving on. 

Of course there are people with a prejudice toward women. I've met them. You've met them. But I've also met people with a prejudice toward boys, white people, black people, skinny people, fat people, short people, and tall people. Get the idea? You can't live by these people. You aren't defined by them. You don't have to prove anything to them. 

If we know what God thinks we don't have to care about what anyone else thinks. God thinks enough of me to send His Son to die for me. (John 3:16) So I don't really care if you don't like me. Or if you think I'm "just a girl." The ground at the cross is level. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3:28

Girl power is only a shadow of confidence when we could build our lives on what God thinks about us. Here are two things we need instead. 

1. We need to know Jesus. 

I hate to break the news to our generation of special butterflies, but we're not special. There's over 7 billion people alive on the earth right now and you're probably not that awesome. I have nothing to offer on my own. John 15:5 says, "for without me (Jesus) ye can do nothing." 

I don't have anything awesome to offer my husband, children, friends, or neighbors just in myself. I can't even consistently get out of bed with a good attitude on my own. But the Bible tells me that I have the same Spirit in me that raised Jesus from the dead (Romans 8:11). 

It's not me; it's Jesus. Ephesians 3:20, "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us," If I want to have something to offer anyone, it's won't be in my own specialness. It will be Jesus. Because I'm not smart or wise or spectacular. 

I can understand why girl power songs appeal to unsaved women. We all need something to believe in, a confidence to build our lives on.  But I'd rather believe in Jesus than in myself. 

2. We need to do the work. 

A lioness doesn't announce to the jungle that she's going to roar and wait until everyone is paying attention. She just roars, and trust me, everyone else notices. If you know Jesus and you do the work, people will notice. You will stand out because that's not average. 

Am I saying there's not a place for societal change? Of course not- Rosa Parks, for example But we would accomplish more collectively if we each did the work in front of us. Forget platforms and names and do the best work you possibly can where ever God has put you. Single or married. Kids or no kids. Working, stay-at-home, work-at-home. 

There's a great story about a man who bought a field and it was covered with rocks and brambles. The man spent years clearing it out in spare hours around work. When he had  a flourishing garden, a neighbor stopped by and complimented him on the work that he and God had done. The man replied, "You should have seen it when only God had it." 

Of course that's tongue-in-cheek but it proves the point. You have to work. You want to be recognized for special contributions? Make special contributions. And parading around in your underwear is not a special contribution. It's not enough to proclaim you are a champion. 

See a need? Fill it. Find work that needs done? Do it. Offer up yourself to better your neighbor. Give when you aren't getting anything. Serve the unlovely. 1 Timothy 5:10 says this about the type of woman we want to be: "Well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work." 

This is America. If you want to succeed, you can. Even if you're a woman. Even if you meet someone who tells you otherwise. You are not less because someone else says so. We should spend less time talking about how awesome we (think we) are and more time doing the work God has given us. 

Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful man who can find? Proverbs 20:6

Follow our Savior's example. We become great through service. "And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." (Matthew 20:27-28) We don't need girl power; we need God's power. 

Stop worrying about roaring or running the world. And find some better music. 

“Do all the good you can by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”