Love Songs to Jesus
January 14th, 2008
This is a rant about music. I have this problem with music that requires very little talent to write or perform. I have no prescience for it whatsoever. Yet that seems to be what is permeating the airwaves these days. Where have all the songwriters gone? Are there no real poets anymore? I also have no prescience for what I like to call “cookie cutter vocalists”. You know the kind that the big record companies market because they have a certain sound that they think will sell, thus creating a world where everybody sounds the same. The voices are interchangeable since it’s more about producing a sound then it is fostering individuality. And then there are the “copycat vocalists.” You know the kind. They don’t have a sound of their own so they barrow other people’s sound. Look, if I wanted to hear Alanis Morissette I’d listen to one of her albums, not some one else trying to sound just like her.
But here is one of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to contemporary Christian music. It has to do with this trend we’re seeing toward singing “love songs” to Jesus. Somehow songwriters today have decided that declaring our love for Jesus should be an important part of worship. Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:
“I’m so in love with You”
“You are everything that I live for”
“I want to stay in Your warm embrace”
“Oh the love between you and I”
“Nothing left to lose loving you again”
“I am yours and you’re mine”
“All I really want is for your love to hold me”
Would somebody please show me the biblical precedent for this kind of touchy-feely worship? Where in scripture does it say that we are to honor the Lord with superficial love songs? Are there any examples of this being done say in the Psalms or possibly in early church worship? The answers is no, at least not in the way that it is being done today. So the real question is, how SHOULD Christ followers go about proclaiming their love for the One who created the universe and who gives eternal life? What is God’s love language so to speak?
Jesus gives us the answer in John 14:15: “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” Our greatest expression of love is in our obedience to Him. God has spelled out in His word His expectations of us when it comes to morality and wisdom. When we surrender to His will for our lives we demonstrate the true extent of our love for Him and in turn we find happiness and blessing. So if you really want to sing about your love for God, sing about that, not some shallow gushing of emotion. Sing about obedience and surrender to the One we love.
I WANNA OBEY!
by Daniel Chafin Bryant
copyright 2008 ASCAP
i want to plant joy
i want to plant peace
i want to plant hope
yeah, i want to be free
i want to be kind
i want to obey
i want to grow stronger
each and every day
because i’ll reap what i sow
and what i sow is gonna grow
Lord i pray for Your strength again today…
and may the seeds that i sow
Lord, bless You as they grow
as i trust You, Jesus
all along the way…
i wanna obey!
i’m gonna reap joy
i’m gonna reap peace
i’m gonna reap hope
yeah, i’m gonna be free
i’m gonna be kind
i’m gonna obey
i’m gonna grow stronger…
each and every day
though my sins be as scarlet
You have washed me white as snow…
You have set me free forever
You’re my joy…
my peace…
my hope!
I WANNA OBEY!
January 22nd, 2008 at 9:03 pm
“…What is God’s love language so to speak?”
to know HIM… is to love HIM… to love Him… is to obey HIM!
John 14:15
Romans 5:8
John 17:3,17
I John 5:12
dcb
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Amen, Bro! Thanks for stopping by.
June 13th, 2008 at 4:19 am
I don’t know what your experiances have been but, Daddy God has been singing the Song of Soloman over me recently as I wake. It is the most beautiful, purest, lovliest thing in the universe to hear His love proclaimed to me morning after morning like that. Gorgeous! His love is SO amazing!!
June 13th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Naomi,
Thanks so much for stopping by. It IS amazing the many ways in which the Holy Spirit of God that indwells the believer chooses to reveal Himself. Thanks for sharing your worship experience with us.
August 13th, 2008 at 6:00 am
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you down the road!
August 13th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
AlexM,
Thanks for stopping by. And thanks for the good word.
February 14th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
i agree with most of what you say above, however i cannot agree with you attitude towards love song to Jesus. I Love Jesus. That is the first of the two commandments that Christ listed when asked what the greatest commandment were. Luke 10:27 ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’. We also see Christ questioning Peter about his Love in John 21 Oh i know Jesus was talking about 3 different kinds of love but it was still Love that Christ was after. Also Song of Solomon has some lovey dovey stuff in it. so please dont hate to much on peoples love expressed through song.
God Bless,
Jon
ps. sorry about the spelling (Home schooler)
February 15th, 2009 at 12:12 am
Homeschooler Jon,
I guess the point I was trying to make is that there’s much MUCH more to loving God then expressing warm fuzzy emotions.
October 14th, 2009 at 4:09 am
I have to say, and without condemation to those who share your belief, that I have to disagree with your veiwpoint on this subject. “Warm fuzzy” emotional songs, while not the core of my personal worship to my King, are a big part of it. I sing my praises and worship to my Maker and my King every day. Thats just how I am. I am a vocal worshiper and music and song are my medium. I love my King with all my mind heart and soul and I feel the need to express that to him on a daily basis much like I do to my childen. I do agree with your comment to Jon above, there is much much more to loving God, but ultimetly expressing your love with love songs to Jesus is deffinatly appropriate and should be promoted. Blessings, Shelly – a christian in love with my King
October 14th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Shelly,
I guess the question I would have to ask you is this. What do you believe is the “biblical” core for personal worship? What is God’s desire for how we express our love to Him? What is the viewpoint of scripture on this subject?
Please understand, I’m not advocating worship without emotion. Certainly David when he danced before the Lord got pretty emotional. I’m more concerned with the level of shallowness that seems to permeate so much of what we call worship. What seems apparent is that the depth of our worship (or the lack there of) is an unfortunate reflection of the depth of our relationship with Him.
October 28th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I don’t understand the problem. Why do we have to ask God how to express our love to him? Wouldn’t it be more real if it came from your own heart? What’s wrong with love songs to Jesus…I love him and i want to tell him how i feel. So you want me to ask him how I should feel…and then tell him what he just told me? That’s shallow.
October 30th, 2009 at 10:24 am
Alexis,
You’re absolutely right that our praise and adoration ought to come from the heart. But if you truly love someone aren’t you the least bit interested in finding out what really pleases them?
March 1st, 2010 at 2:15 pm
So, you enjoying your new CD??
March 1st, 2010 at 3:17 pm
You know it. I’m feeling so much more relevant.