Worshipful Lies

Recently in church we sang a song that included the line "You can have all my hands can hold."

My hands were holding my 4-year-old.

Now, I'm willing to say that to God about my kids -- in fact, I already had -- but it certainly gets your attention. Suddenly I wasn't just singing the words on the screen; I was thinking carefully about what I was saying. And some of what we were saying probably wasn't true.

Have you paid attention to some of the songs we sing in church? Some of them are ... inaccurate. Some are bold faced lies. Look at some lines from a few praise choruses:

*Jesus, I am so in love with you.

*In all I do I honor you.

*We will give ourselves no rest 'til your Kingdom comes earth.

(All songs I like, by the way.)

I think the worst example may be the song Breathe:

This is the air I breathe Your holy presence living in me
This is my daily bread Your very word spoken to me
And I'm desperate for you
And I'm lost without you

Wonderful sentiments all. It would be nice if they were true. But they're not.

Do you see a pattern there? Whenever our songs start talking about us, it's easy to mess up. It's easy to declare that we love more, want more, or do more than we actually do -- to say we are more than we are.

When we simply sing about how great God is, it's hard to screw it up.

Hopefully God won't treat us quite as harshly as some who lied to the Lord in the past, but do you think He is pleased by our mindlessly singing lies? Isn't it better to stick to songs we can honestly sing? Think about this in church next Sunday.

I'm not opposed to carefully written songs about our needs, feelings, or experiences, but an easy way to write a great song is to focus on who God is and what He's done.