Heard a song today ...
Ok, I should preface this entry with a note -
Lately I have been reading Grace Livingston Hill books, and most recently, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.
Have the songs we sing in church and hear on Christian radio ever bothered you? Have you noticed a change of perspective? I have. Back in 1998, we learned a song called "Jesus, Lover of My Soul". This song bothered me, because it has this line -
"Jesus, I will never let You go ... Though my world may fall I'll never let you go."
How is it that we've come to the place where *WE* think we have the ability to never let Christ go. As if *WE* have any capability to even hold on to our own selves, much less Him.
Anyways, today I was driving to Blockbuster and I heard the song "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns. (you can read the lyrics here - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/castingcrowns/lifesong.html) I guess because I'd just been reading Corrie ten Boom the song hit me as so wrong. It goes back to that whole thought process of *US* having some kind of power or ability in our Christian walk & ministry.
When Corrie ten Boom was in Ravensbruck (a concentration camp), she began to feel this way. Here's the excerpt from The Hiding Place, chapter 14 -
"And as the cold increased, so did the special temptation of concentration-camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself. It took a thousand cunning forms ...
And there it was.
The truth blazed like sunlight in the shadows of Barracks 28. The real sin I had been committing was not that of inching toward the center of a platoon because I was cold. The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ's that made the difference."
It seems to me that more and more we aren't looking to Christ to be the Author and Finisher of our faith, but to ourselves. We keep singing songs about "me" and "I" rather than about HIM. I know "Lifesong" is about having your life be glorifying to God, but the song itself doesn't seem to do that. It seems to me more arrogant and self-centered than focused on Christ. Maybe if we focused on Christ instead of ourselves, our 'lifesongs' *would* be a praise to Him. Corrie's was.
That's my two cents. Just thought I would throw that out there.
Lately I have been reading Grace Livingston Hill books, and most recently, The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom.
Have the songs we sing in church and hear on Christian radio ever bothered you? Have you noticed a change of perspective? I have. Back in 1998, we learned a song called "Jesus, Lover of My Soul". This song bothered me, because it has this line -
"Jesus, I will never let You go ... Though my world may fall I'll never let you go."
How is it that we've come to the place where *WE* think we have the ability to never let Christ go. As if *WE* have any capability to even hold on to our own selves, much less Him.
Anyways, today I was driving to Blockbuster and I heard the song "Lifesong" by Casting Crowns. (you can read the lyrics here - http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/castingcrowns/lifesong.html) I guess because I'd just been reading Corrie ten Boom the song hit me as so wrong. It goes back to that whole thought process of *US* having some kind of power or ability in our Christian walk & ministry.
When Corrie ten Boom was in Ravensbruck (a concentration camp), she began to feel this way. Here's the excerpt from The Hiding Place, chapter 14 -
"And as the cold increased, so did the special temptation of concentration-camp life: the temptation to think only of oneself. It took a thousand cunning forms ...
And there it was.
The truth blazed like sunlight in the shadows of Barracks 28. The real sin I had been committing was not that of inching toward the center of a platoon because I was cold. The real sin lay in thinking that any power to help and transform came from me. Of course it was not my wholeness, but Christ's that made the difference."
It seems to me that more and more we aren't looking to Christ to be the Author and Finisher of our faith, but to ourselves. We keep singing songs about "me" and "I" rather than about HIM. I know "Lifesong" is about having your life be glorifying to God, but the song itself doesn't seem to do that. It seems to me more arrogant and self-centered than focused on Christ. Maybe if we focused on Christ instead of ourselves, our 'lifesongs' *would* be a praise to Him. Corrie's was.
That's my two cents. Just thought I would throw that out there.
1 Comments:
At 5:05 PM, Anonymous said…
That has been part of my reason for disliking the new music in most churches. The hymns were born out of difficult experiences that God brought people through. The old chourses we sang uplifted God and put Him first. We must get back to that!
Post a Comment
<< Home