When I was growing up, I loved Christian music, almost to a fault. I was on a first name basis with the programming director of a local Christian radio station, and it would drive me crazy whenever one of my brothers wanted to listen to the local oldies station. On one occasion I said in a stern voice: “You’re so secular!”
By the time I went off to college, I was listening almost religiously to “Casey’s Top 40.” It’s only been in the last 5-10 years that I’ve started to really pay attention to the messages in songs. Sometimes I’ve found that a song most people would regard as simply a fun song actually has a profound meaning, either for good or for ill.
Recently while preaching my dad stopped in the middle of his sermon and said words to this effect: “I want to be careful what I say here because some of you will latch onto what I’m about to say when you should leave it alone, while others of you who need to hear it will ignore it.” I was reminded of this the other day while listening to the latest album by one of my favorite bands, MercyMe. Track #7 is called “Back to You,” and here are some of the words:
“There are days my head is spinning/Wishing I could hit the switch and end this ride/If it came to a stop and someone let me off/I know I would just get right back in line”
The first few times I heard that verse I was reminded of Proverbs 26:11 (“As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly”) as well as Isaiah 53:6 (“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all”). However, the chorus of the song says this:
“And when I trip, fall/Slow down to a crawl/And feel like I got nothing left to lose/I may slip, slide/And watch our worlds collide/But I will hit the ground running back to you”
Then there’s the first verse:
“Nobody said it would be easy/Nobody said that life’s a breeze/Tossin’ and turning, oh the wind keeps churnin’ like I’m a little toy boat out on the sea/And if I’m down don’t count me out/I’ll slowly get back on my feet/Stumbling and fumbling but I keep on coming just as long as you’re not giving up on me”
It’s a sweet sentiment, but it’s deeply troubling to me. Why? Let’s start with Jesus’ words in John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The ESV Study Bible says this about this verse:
“‘No one can come to me’ means ‘no one is able to come to me’ (Gk. ‘dynamai’ means ‘to be able’). This implies that no human being in the world, on his own, has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father ‘draws him,’ that is, gives him the desire and inclination to come and the ability to place trust in Christ (see notes on v. 37; 12:32).”
The note on verse 37 says this:
“‘Whoever comes to me I will never cast out’ implies that people should never think, ‘Maybe I am not chosen by God, and therefore maybe Jesus will reject me when I come to him.’ Jesus promises to receive everyone who comes to him and trusts him for salvation. Yet, a few verses later (v. 44) Jesus states the paradoxical and corresponding truth that once people come to Jesus, they will realize that behind their willing decision to come and believe lies the mysterious, invisible work of the Father who all along was drawing them to Christ. See Romans 9; Eph. 1:3-6.”
My fear is that many of the folks who hear “Back to You” and latch onto it are misinterpreting it in a manner similar to the way I described my initial interpretation of the song. In other words, it’s like the old bumper sticker: “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”
You may have heard the phrase attributed to Martin Luther: “Sin boldly!” This is an abbreviation of a statement he made in a letter to fellow reformer Philipp Melanchthon, which reads in relevant part: “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” Many Christians, especially those in modern times, have taken this to mean that it doesn’t matter how you live your life, because “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). However, Paul says in the very next chapter: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ... In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness...” (Romans 6:1-2, 11-13).
How does this apply to the song “Back to You”? Let’s take a look at one more thing. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13, NKJV). And Jesus himself said: “[A]part from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In the words of Luther, “Did we in our own strength confide/Our striving would be losing/Were not the right Man on our side/The Man of God’s own choosing/Dost ask who that may be?/Christ Jesus, it is He!”
What am I getting at? First of all, please don’t think that I’m saying you shouldn’t listen to MercyMe, or that “Back to You” is a bad song. Neither of those statements, in my view, could be further from the truth. I guess the bottom line is that you should pay close attention to the message being communicated in the music you listen to, the movies and TV shows you watch, and the books you read, and filter all of that through the lens of Scripture. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations, except John 6:44, taken from the NIV.)
By the time I went off to college, I was listening almost religiously to “Casey’s Top 40.” It’s only been in the last 5-10 years that I’ve started to really pay attention to the messages in songs. Sometimes I’ve found that a song most people would regard as simply a fun song actually has a profound meaning, either for good or for ill.
Recently while preaching my dad stopped in the middle of his sermon and said words to this effect: “I want to be careful what I say here because some of you will latch onto what I’m about to say when you should leave it alone, while others of you who need to hear it will ignore it.” I was reminded of this the other day while listening to the latest album by one of my favorite bands, MercyMe. Track #7 is called “Back to You,” and here are some of the words:
“There are days my head is spinning/Wishing I could hit the switch and end this ride/If it came to a stop and someone let me off/I know I would just get right back in line”
The first few times I heard that verse I was reminded of Proverbs 26:11 (“As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly”) as well as Isaiah 53:6 (“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all”). However, the chorus of the song says this:
“And when I trip, fall/Slow down to a crawl/And feel like I got nothing left to lose/I may slip, slide/And watch our worlds collide/But I will hit the ground running back to you”
Then there’s the first verse:
“Nobody said it would be easy/Nobody said that life’s a breeze/Tossin’ and turning, oh the wind keeps churnin’ like I’m a little toy boat out on the sea/And if I’m down don’t count me out/I’ll slowly get back on my feet/Stumbling and fumbling but I keep on coming just as long as you’re not giving up on me”
It’s a sweet sentiment, but it’s deeply troubling to me. Why? Let’s start with Jesus’ words in John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” The ESV Study Bible says this about this verse:
“‘No one can come to me’ means ‘no one is able to come to me’ (Gk. ‘dynamai’ means ‘to be able’). This implies that no human being in the world, on his own, has the moral and spiritual ability to come to Christ unless God the Father ‘draws him,’ that is, gives him the desire and inclination to come and the ability to place trust in Christ (see notes on v. 37; 12:32).”
The note on verse 37 says this:
“‘Whoever comes to me I will never cast out’ implies that people should never think, ‘Maybe I am not chosen by God, and therefore maybe Jesus will reject me when I come to him.’ Jesus promises to receive everyone who comes to him and trusts him for salvation. Yet, a few verses later (v. 44) Jesus states the paradoxical and corresponding truth that once people come to Jesus, they will realize that behind their willing decision to come and believe lies the mysterious, invisible work of the Father who all along was drawing them to Christ. See Romans 9; Eph. 1:3-6.”
My fear is that many of the folks who hear “Back to You” and latch onto it are misinterpreting it in a manner similar to the way I described my initial interpretation of the song. In other words, it’s like the old bumper sticker: “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.”
You may have heard the phrase attributed to Martin Luther: “Sin boldly!” This is an abbreviation of a statement he made in a letter to fellow reformer Philipp Melanchthon, which reads in relevant part: “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world.” Many Christians, especially those in modern times, have taken this to mean that it doesn’t matter how you live your life, because “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (Romans 5:20). However, Paul says in the very next chapter: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? ... In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness...” (Romans 6:1-2, 11-13).
How does this apply to the song “Back to You”? Let’s take a look at one more thing. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul says: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13, NKJV). And Jesus himself said: “[A]part from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). In the words of Luther, “Did we in our own strength confide/Our striving would be losing/Were not the right Man on our side/The Man of God’s own choosing/Dost ask who that may be?/Christ Jesus, it is He!”
What am I getting at? First of all, please don’t think that I’m saying you shouldn’t listen to MercyMe, or that “Back to You” is a bad song. Neither of those statements, in my view, could be further from the truth. I guess the bottom line is that you should pay close attention to the message being communicated in the music you listen to, the movies and TV shows you watch, and the books you read, and filter all of that through the lens of Scripture. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17).
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations, except John 6:44, taken from the NIV.)
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