"I Made It" by Kevin Rudolf featuring the Apostle Paul?

One of the popular songs out right now in the secular music industry is the song “I Made It” by Kevin Rudolf featuring Birdman, Jay Sean, and Lil’ Wayne. The beat is catchy, the harmonies are legit, and the raps are sweet…but I read the words and was hit by something. Read the words and see if you catch it (there are 2 swear words…thanks to Lil’ Wayne, which I’ve edited):

I look up to the sky
And now the World is mine
I’ve known it all my life
I made it, I made it!
I used to dream about, the life I’m living now
I know that there’s no doubt.
I made it, I made it!

Known from the city where no one believed in me
But I never give up the fight.
Ya, but now on top. I told you to let it rock
The money’s fallin from the sky
I made it.

(BirdMan)
Rooftop, hella choppa burning smoke
Louie bag stay strapped wit a priceless globe
High life, flippin and get some more.
Paradise, the luxury marble floor
When I hit, hit me full of that cash
More money than I seen in a garbage can
Stunna island, money and the power
That’s how we do it, make it rain make it shower
Top floor, big timer doing big things
Over city views bought shawty new range
Flip another 100, poppin throwing hundreds
In a new Bently, uptown stunna

(Jay Sean)
Yo ay Ay ay listen
See I don’t live for glamour, and I don’t care for fame
I’m in this for the love of the game
Funny how things can change they didn’t believe in me
Then they calling my name now look who cashed in
They didn’t wanna know me back then but ever since I'm done going back then
Everything turned around and now the sky is falling down

(LilWayne)
Came from the gutter, lookin like my motha
Made it to the goal line, straight out the huddle
Cash money goldmine, weezy stay loyal
boy we getting money like we just found oil
Uh and that’s word to my red flag
I live first and leave the bulls**t dead last
I lay it down so hard I got a bedrash
And I just tell em to loaf it when the bread pass
Staring at you from the top of the game man
I might drop the World if I change hands
Uh it feel good to be here, Weezy in the building got this b**ch rebuilt
Young Money

Now compare this song to the words Paul writes in Philippians 3:4-14:

4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I’ll be quick and simple here:

Although I can’t envision the Apostle Paul rapping…I think his rap song would sing to a different tune…yet, I think the Apostle Paul could have contributed to this song and sing just like all the other guys. Paul here shows how he “made it”…vs 4-6!!! Paul would be right next to Kevin, Lil’ Wayne, and the bunch singing about all the amazing things he’s done and how that has totally made him “arrive!” Yet, Paul doesn’t end at verse 6…he recognizes that he hasn’t “made it!” That it isn’t about the worldly accomplishments that give you a status of “making it.” No, it is “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…through faith.” What’s even crazier is after a statement like that, Paul states that he does two things, “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on…” Man, what an incredible man of humility, perspective, and truth.

Do we have the attitude of already arriving? Do we sing the tune of “I made it” just because we accomplish something? God’s truth says that all our accomplishments are nothing compared to knowing Christ! With this mindset, we don’t ever have an attitude of “arriving,” but we have a passion to strive forward in pursuing God and working towards the upward call of God!