What a Katy Perry Song Taught Me About Jesus
KAYLEE SHAVER // SENIOR
One of my favorite songs (also my number one song of 2017 compiled by Spotify), is “Rise” by Katy Perry. Shocker, I know. But listen to it, it’s pretty good. She wrote this song for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Its compelling. Its challenging. And, it also has some Biblical references in it (though they aren’t actually talking about the Bible in this case). A line that is repeated throughout the song is, “Oh ye of so little faith, don’t doubt it, don’t doubt it.” For the Olympics, that is an incredible motivational speech. Don’t doubt the work that you have put in your entire life to get to this moment. Don’t doubt yourself. Don’t doubt your training. Don’t doubt your coaches. Believe in yourself, and become a legend in your field of competition.
But as most of us know, this is a line drawn out of the Bible. It comes from Matthew 8, as well as the other Gospels. In Matthew 8, Jesus is asleep on a boat during a crazy storm. The disciples and all the people with him were scared and woke Jesus saying, “Save us, Lord; we are perishing.” Not a crazy thing to ask of Jesus when your boat is about to sink, right? But Jesus responds to them by saying, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?” and then rebuked and calmed the storm.
Can you imagine being called out by Jesus Himself about not having faith in Him? That would be the ultimate dagger to the heart. Jesus asks us to have faith in Him in all situations, trusting that He will protect us. By definition, faith is, “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”
Now I am preaching this to myself as well. I have been told that I am an impatient person when it comes to waiting to figure out what comes next. But rather than being impatient, to the core, I am actually losing my faith that God has a plan for my future that gives Him the ultimate glory. Outwardly, people see impatience, but truly, it’s a faith issue.
What are you holding on to, and not releasing to God? Put your faith and trust in Him that He has your past, present, and future in His hands. He says in Revelation 22:13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
The next line in the song, not derived from the Bible, but truly preaches the Gospel: “Victory is in our veins.” We have true victory in Christ. He has defeated death and the grave and has given us a new life in Him. He has already won the war on sin. There is no more competition. There is no more defeat. There is no more fear. Only victory in the One who died for our sins, people so undeserving, so that our Father in Heaven may receive the glory.