The other day, I was scrolling through Facebook and saw that someone posted a critique of the song “Reckless Love,” saying that it makes a false claim about God. “God’s love may be overwhelming and never ending, but it is never reckless. It is sovereign, specific, lavish and efficacious!” the post said. Unsurprisingly, the comments erupted in arguments, some saying that God’s love is “reckless” in the sense of heedlessness and persistence, and others saying that the statement defies Christian doctrine altogether and that we should opt for a better word such as “relentless.”
This got me thinking. When we sing contemporary worship songs in church, do we actually know what we’re singing? Take the song “Who You Say I Am” by Hillsong Worship. Honestly, the track doesn’t really talk about God Himself. It talks about who God makes us. Like in these lyrics: “In my father’s house / there’s a place for me / I’m a child of God, yes, I am” and “I am who You say I am.”
I think that these lyrics give us a sense of comfort — and don’t get me wrong, comfort is a great thing! But when we stand in the pews and outstretch our arms toward heaven, is it better for us to be singing “Christ be magnified” or “I am a child of God”?
I’m not one to speak about the fundamentals of Christian doctrine or whether something is blasphemy or a misunderstanding, but this idea of comfort speaks to me personally. There was a time in my life when I chose to feel closer to God by looking up a sermon on the internet—any sermon spoken by any pastor, just one that related to what I was going through at the time.
I realize now that I wasn’t looking for a sermon—I was looking for a pep talk. Something to reassure me that I was okay. Something to give me advice on what I was going through at the time. It was pretty selfish in the sense that I wasn’t wanting to honor God, I was just wanting to hear about all the great things that He could do for me.
This is just a personal experience, but I think it’s relevant to a lot of Christians (and not just young ones). So, do we want to worship God or reassure ourselves?
Going back to Hillsong, facts are facts: we are children of God, saved and made new through Jesus Christ. But I still think it’s healthy to critique worship songs that seem to draw our attention inward rather than reorient ourselves towards Christ.
I’m not hating on contemporary Christian music. When people sing lyrics like “I am a child of God” as they tightly shut their eyes, what matters in that moment is how they interpret those lyrics personally. For example, they could be changing that lyric to “I am a child of the divine, holy and true God!” However, some people (ahem, me) might be confused by lyrics like that, thinking “I thought I was going to church to forget about myself for a moment. Why are these words all about me?”
The big issue is that I view church worship as a time of community among other Christians and a personal experience. If some people are appreciating the lyrics while others are shaking their heads, the church seems less like a safe place to commune and more like a competition to see who’s doing the best worshipping.
Worship is a sacred task that shouldn’t be done without giving ourselves entirely to God in that moment. As I’ve learned, it’s not just a way to make ourselves feel better. If I wanted to do that, I could go listen to my rock mix on Spotify. But worship is a way to acknowledge that God is greater than our problems (and the church’s problems!) will ever be. When we’re standing in the pews and stretching our arms towards heaven, the divinity of God is all that matters. The songs we sing should always represent that.
Photo by Union University.
