Be-Engaging - "If I were a boy"

"If I were a boy" - by Beyonce. I found these lyrics really interesting because they paint a picture of what it means to be a man and a woman. I think society has a gender complex - women want to be men and men are confused with what they want to be!

Beyonce says that:

If I were a boy
I think I could understand
How it feels to love a girl
I swear I'd be a better man

I can't help but get this feeling that she is proclaiming that if a woman had the role of a man - she would be much better at it. At points of frustration I am sure that this can sometimes feel true. You go through your head of all the ways you would act if you were a guy and how you would be more sensative, attentive and loving.

She then goes on to say:

I'd put myself first
And make the rules as I go
'Cause I know that she'd be faithful
Waiting for me to come home, to come home

I am not sure whether she is alluding to the idea that men are selfish? It is interesting though, there is a theme of believing that men are the selfish, tyrant, domineering, controlling people. Women of course come out shiny clean with perfection stamped on their foreheads. Perhaps the reason why women want to be men is because they think they can do a better job. However where does that leave the men? This song is an interesting reflection of where society is and how far it is from Gods purpose for man and woman.

I love the fact that God has made man and woman different and that women were never meant to be men and men were not meant to be women. We both have different roles which scream against society right now. Yet trailing back to Genesis 1 and 2 before the fall, we see man as the leader and head while the woman is the helper and yet this is far from domineering and controlling attitudes, but much closer to a loving relationship that submits, loves and respects. Then sin enters and everything is undone and backwards...

Lets fast forward to the Cross where Jesus restored relationships, where He dies for our sins and brings us back into relationship with the Father. How is that reflected in our relationships now? Well.. Ephesians 5 says that women should submit to their husbands and husbands are to love their wives like Christ loved the church. What did Christ do for the church? He died for her... that has amazing implications. In Jesus we have a renewed relationship with each other, men in their rightful roles as leaders, protectors and servants and wives as helpers, submitting, loving and servants. Both serving and loving each other. Wow....

It is good for us as Christians to challenge the role of men and women. What society paints isnt satisfying, it isn't what God designed at all. We can look at this song and unwrap it to its core and find a longing for more then just women wanting to be men. There is a longing for men to take the role they are meant to and yet women sometimes take that away for them or men advocate their responsibility leaving no choice but for someone else to take over the role. Lets not do the blaim game, but lets point back to the Gospel and see how God designed the roles of man and woman.