In a worship setting we often sing songs that say things like, “You’re all I’m living for”…..”In everything I do, I honor you”…..”I live for you”…..”You’re all I want”…..etc. But if we’re honest with ourselves, these lyrics are not entirely true. We don’t completely live for God 100% of the time with no exceptions. We don’t completely honor God 100% of the time with no exceptions. And He is often not all that we want. We tend to want many things. We are selfish creatures by nature. One minute we are surrendered to Him and living for Him, the next we are living for ourselves. The Word says that the spirit and the sinful nature are in conflict with each other (Galatians 5). Even when our spirit has been made perfect, our mind and heart are still on a journey to be made more like Jesus. And it’s a lifelong journey.
The songs we sing….
So should we feel guilty that we are not exactly telling the truth when we sing these songs? Should we be judgmental towards ourselves and towards others, using guilt as our motivator to try harder and harder until we become more perfect? Should we even sing these songs to begin with? I think we should. I think we should sing them with an understanding that we are saying these things in faith, knowing we are in a process of being made like Jesus….a process that will be ongoing for the rest of our time on this earth. Being guilt driven and judgmental will not make us more like Jesus. Knowing the Father and walking closely with Him is what makes us more like Him. We may not be perfect in all we do physically, and we may not “live for Him” in our earthly bodies all the time the way we’d like, but we are on a journey of walking with Him and being made like Him. And I believe He loves this process. He loves to see us learn and grow, just like any good parent delights in seeing their child learn and grow. He is patient with us when we blow it. He knows how we are formed, and He has compassion on us as a father has compassion on his children (Ps. 103). So I would say it’s ok to sing “You’re all I’m living for”, even though it’s only a matter of time before we blow it again. We can sing it in faith, knowing we are on a journey to make it a complete reality in our lives.
