Its My Life
My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Jeremiah 2:13 NIV
As a child of the 80s, I have a small nostalgia for Bon Jovi. I thinks it is primarily because of their popularity and place in American culture during my junior high days. Their music reminds me of that time. My relationship with the Lord took on an entirely new phase and I learned greatly about relying on Him. While I didn’t listen to Bon Jovi all that much (I was more into Petra), I couldn’t help but know their music as it was simply a part of everyday life.
I guess it came as no surprise to me that I was intrigued by their song in 2000 called, “It’s My Life.” I even bought the CD because I enjoyed that song so much. But take a moment with me to read the lyrics to that particular song:
It’s my life; It’s now or never; I ain’t gonna live forever; I just want to live while I’m alive; (It’s my life) My heart is like an open highway; Like Frankie said I did it my way; I just wanna live while I’m alive; It’s my life
Bon Jovi sings a song full of deception. The catchy beat and Jon’s undeniable voice doesn’t change the fact that the words are a lie.
Reread the verse above. God’s people committed two sins. First, they forsake him. Second, they dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns at that. When we live life our way and not in the will of God, we do the same thing. We forsake him by choosing our flesh desires over His perfect will.
The original Hebrew word for cistern is Bor which means a pit, hole, well, dungeon, grave. Empty cisterns were used for prisons. How many of us can testify that when we live out of God’s will, we have dug ourselves a cistern and we live deep in the pit? How many of us can testify to attempting to fill that cistern with “water” in an attempt to satisfy a thirst? I know I can testify to pit dwelling when I chose to do things my way. While the lyrics of the song suggest we should live life up the way we want, God’s plan is so different.
I have a relative who is a good example of a person living his life the way he wants. He has chosen to walk out of the Lord’s will and forsaken the truth he was raised to know. He chooses flesh desires, he chooses money and unfulfilling relationships to seek out happiness. He tries to find his self worth in women and his career. But he is miserable. And he tries everything worldly to make himself happy and when his way doesn’t work, he digs his cistern deeper and then blames God.
In contrast, Chris Tomlin wrote a song that many of us have sung in our churches called Made To Worship. The Biblical lyrics to this song speak the truth that we need to hear. God did not create us to say that we did life our way. He did not create us to forsake him and live in the pit. He did not create us to spend our lives filling our cisterns in void while searching for hope when He has clearly given us the answers. The chorus in the lyrics to Chris Tomlin’s song is this:
You and I were made to worship, You and I are called to love, You and I are forgiven and free. When you and I embrace surrender, You and I choose to believe, You and I will see how we were meant to be.
Words of hope! God has so much more planned for us than to say we did life our way. If we have dug our own cisterns in hope of finding living water, we have failed miserably. Any pit we dig can never hold the living water God wants to pour on us. Let the words of John 4:14 fall fresh on you today and let God satisfy our thirst with His powerful living water:
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Dear Gracious Lord, I know I have forsaken you and fallen short. I know plenty of times I have dug my cistern in hopes of finding fulfillment in living life my way. Please forgive me and draw me back in your will. Thank you for the grace you have shown me time and again. Thank you for your living water and that gift of eternal life. In the name of Christ Jesus. Amen.
Great word! Lyrics in a song do move us to meditate on whatever the musician desires for us to hear. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks or shall we say sings.
Awesome post, and so very true.
It’s not really my life, is it? It’s HIS life and I want to live fully while I’m alive (as Bon Jovi suggests), but not my way. His way.
Dana,
Great post. You know there are so many people who believe and live the song, I did it my way. I grieve over the deception.
Good scriptures references too. Thank you.
Words of Hope!! Amen…
definitely something to live by
thank you
I just discovered your site. I’m a new blogger and looking for blogs for Christan women. Yours is wonderful. Thank you for all the time you must put into it.
Sorry, I didn’t leave my whole blog address. I’m new at this.
Lovely post Dana. Sometimes it so easy to just sing a song without really listening to the words. This is a reminder to even be careful of the words that I sing.