Born to Party

Lately my family's been listening to this version of will.i.am's I Like to Move It. It's a fun, upbeat song, with crazy lyrics that, of course, aren't meant to provide any deep philosophical interpretation.

But one line in particular has really stood out to me. It goes:

And we don't party hardly
We just party hard
And not because we bored

We party cause we born to party.

At the risk of sounding like a stodgy, killjoy snob, I have to say: how sad is that?

"Born to party" - really? That's the singer's whole purpose in life? To party? Of course, it's a party song, to begin with, so it's not meant to be taken too seriously, but imagine if it was.

Imagine if you were "born to party." What would that mean? You were born to enjoy yourself, born to have a great time, born to dance and party and - 

And then what? What do you achieve by partying?

A life of partying has no purpose.

But we were all born for a purpose. We were all born for a reason. And Christians are "reborn" - they are born again for a special purpose.

We're born to die.

"Take up your cross and follow me," Jesus said. In other words, be prepared to die daily. 

"For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." - Romans 8:13

But part of me - that "old man" - doesn't want this. That part of me that thinks it's "born to party" doesn't want to acknowledge that it's born to die. And that's what I have to put to death everyday. That mindset.

That part of me that thinks it's "born to party" would rather put something off until tomorrow than do it today. It would rather say nothing than go out of its way to say something nice. It would rather do enough to get by than do the very best.

It thinks life is all about what I can get out of it. 

And that's the part of me that I have to fight, every single day. Because I'm not born to party. I'm born to die, daily, and that's what I must do.

Not that there isn't a proper time and place for partying in our everyday lives. There definitely is. I'm not advocating shunning parties altogether.

And being a Christian, I believe that there will be victory at the end as well. There will be celebrating and rejoicing in Heaven, for sure.

But right now, here on earth, we're in the middle of a war. Every day is a battle. Every day we're striving to roll back the curse.

There will be plenty of time for partying in the eternity that awaits us. Right now, we're here to do the Lord's work, and to do it well.

What do you think? Am I drawing too much out of a fun pop song? Or do you think it's a valid point?  Do you struggle with a "born to party" mindset?