Megan Woods' song The Truth has resonated with many believers because it addresses something Christians desperately need in an age of confusion and self-condemnation: our identity in Christ. Much of what she says is rooted in biblical truth. Believers really are children of God through faith in Christ (John 1:12; Rom 8:15-17). We really are loved by God (1 John 4:9-10). We really do belong to Him rather than to the lies of the world, the flesh, and the devil (1 Cor 6:19-20; Rom 14:8). For those reasons, I can appreciate the heart of the song.
At the same time, songs, like sermons, should be weighed against Scripture. What is emotionally encouraging is not always the same thing as what is biblically precise.
The line, "I am my Father's child," is wonderfully true for those who have been adopted through Christ. Scripture goes so far as to say, "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God" (1 John 3:1). This is not a truth we earned. It is a truth granted by grace. Likewise, the declaration that we are "truly loved by a God who's good when I'm not good enough" points in the right direction. God's goodness does not fluctuate with our performance. While Scripture would speak more in terms of our sinfulness than our inadequacy (Romans 3:10-23), the essential point remains: our hope rests in God's character, not our own.
Where I begin to struggle is with some of the language that reflects a more therapeutic view of Christianity than a biblical one. For example, the song says, "I make Him proud and I make Him smile." Certainly God delights in His people. Zephaniah 3:17 says He rejoices over them with singing, and Psalm 149:4 says that the Lord takes pleasure in His people. Yet the New Testament consistently centers God's pleasure on His Son. At Jesus' baptism, the Father declared, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt 3:17). We might be able to claim that we please Him at times, but by no means can we affirm that He's pleased with us all the time. And any delight God has in us is ultimately because we are united to Christ. The emphasis of the gospel is not that God is impressed with me. It is that God is pleased with His Son and graciously accepts me in Him.
The line that concerns me most is, "He looks at me and wouldn't change a thing." That sentiment may feel comforting, but it is difficult to reconcile with the Bible's doctrine of sanctification. Scripture repeatedly teaches that God intends to change many things about me. He predestined believers "to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Rom 8:29). He is transforming us "from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor 3:18). He disciplines His children precisely because He loves them and desires their holiness (Heb 12:6-11). God's love is not demonstrated by leaving us as we are. It is demonstrated by refusing to abandon us to what we are. God, loving us, would definitely change things—making us better, more like Him, more fulfilled, better equipped. God isn’t confused by our modern, “Love means you embrace everything about the loved one.” God loves us enough to want better for us … and then does it in us.
One of the great paradoxes of the gospel is that God fully accepts those who come to Him through Christ while simultaneously committing Himself to their transformation. He justifies the ungodly, but He does not glorify them overnight. The Christian life is a lifelong process of being made into what we are not yet. To say that God "wouldn't change a thing" may capture a feeling of acceptance, but biblically speaking it misses the reality that God loves us enough to change everything that sin has corrupted.
This reflects a larger trend in modern Christian music. Many songs emphasize affirmation, acceptance, and self-worth, often because those are the struggles people feel most deeply today. Scripture certainly addresses those concerns, but it does so within the larger framework of redemption. The biblical message is not simply, "God loves you just the way you are." The biblical message is, "God loved you while you were still a sinner" (Rom 5:8), justified you through Christ, and is now conforming you to the image of Christ.
So I would say that The Truth contains much that is true and encouraging. It reminds believers that they are loved, adopted, and secure in God's grace. Yet some of its language softens the biblical reality that Christians are both accepted and transformed. The gospel is actually richer than mere affirmation. God does not look at me and conclude that nothing needs changing. He looks at me through the righteousness of Christ, loves me completely, and then patiently begins changing everything that doesn't yet reflect His Son.
That, to me, is the fuller truth of who we are in Christ.
2 comments:
Having never heard this song, I can only go off what you wrote here. But it seems to me, depending on how you are reading the troublesome part may change its troublesome-ness. You have said in the past that you would not change how you lived your past because it was part of God's plan and will. What if that is what she has in mind in this verse. Not an idea of God never wants us to change, but that we don't need to change before He loves us? I'm sure a lot of people will read that verse in the way you do, but that doesn't necessarily mean she wrote that verse with that meaning, and we all know we shouldn't abandon true things simply because other people will twist it. If you change your perspective on the verse from "I don't need to change" to "I didn't need to change before God loved me", I think is both biblically accurate and glorifying to God. Again, not familiar with the song, but based on what you wrote here about the rest of the song, I imagine she had this view in mind rather than your original take on it.
She makes it clear "He loves me as I am" is there, and I have no question about it. She claims "I make Him proud" and I don't imagine that's actually true at all ... since HE makes us who we are. "Well done, good and faithful servant" is about as "proud" as He gets of us. She claims, "I make Him smile" and Scripture says He can be "pleased" with us, so that's fine. But the part that's most difficult is "He looks at me and wouldn't change a thing." There is NOTHING in her lyrics that suggests that He'd EVER change a thing. It's the language of the modern parent who finds no fault in their children ... even the ones that are in need of serious discipline.
Maybe she is saying, "He loves me as I am," but she's using the language of today's world that argues we shouldn't be judgmental and we should be all-embracing and we should never find fault with our children or our loved ones because, doggone it, they're just so lovable as they are. I hear it from believers all the time and it just isn't true. It shifts the focus from Christ and our process of being transformed into His image to "God thinks warmly of me just as I am." Emotional theology versus the less popular biblical theology.
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