stayin' alive

“And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha,
Stayin' alive.
Stayin' alive.
Ah, ha, ha, ha.
Stayn' alive.”

Are the words inspiring? Not exactly. But the beat, oh, my friend, the beat. It doesn’t matter where I am or what I’m doing, when the Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive” starts playing my face lights up and my body can’t sit still.

(Full disclosure: My wife-to-be and I went dancing regularly when we first met—disco and polyester are in our blood.)

Why do I bother to mention this? Because I’m searching desperately these days for anything that will cheer me up. And, voila, we’ve got a winner!

But there’s something else that cheers me up each and every time. And it didn’t come from the mouth of Barry Gibb, but the mouth of God.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”1

Can’t you just feel the excitement? The translators obviously picked up on it by including exclamation points. But even without the exclamation points the words are like a shot of much-needed caffeine early in the morning. It’s, well, energizing.

Think about it. Our heavenly Father doesn’t just love us, He’s lavished us with love. And He’s done it by making us His children, children of God.

• Me. The guy who repeatedly falls short of the glory of God.
• Me. The guy who can’t make it through a single day without sinning.
• Me. The guy who runs hot and cold when it comes to the things of God.

By the grace of God, I’m a child of the Creator of the universe. And so are you if you’ve placed your faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins.

The Bee Gees’ “Staying Alive” can and always will sway my emotions like nothing else. But the high is temporary. On the other hand, being a child of God is permanent, soul-inspiring and of God!

At the end of the day, if I want to stay alive in my current mental state of mind, God’s Word trumps Barry’s word every time.

“How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!”

1 1 John 3:1