I just love reading Scripture and hearing lyrics start to run through my head. There’s a more recent song by MercyMe that finds its lyrics in 1 John 4:4b:
for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
Let me tell you some thoughts on the song. First the good. Any Scripture put to music is a great place to start. Music has an incredible ability to help us remember the holy words of the Bible, and we need any help we can find to store them up. We want an overabundance of God’s word in us. So the fact that this song focuses on this as its chorus helps me recall this good news and that is great.
Another good of this song: the tone. Just because a song has Scripture-soaked lyrics doesn’t mean the tone matches. Not all of Scripture is upbeat, and to sing a lament with your toes tapping doesn’t quite match up. But these words of 1 John can have that uplifting feel. We are confessing God’s greatness and how he is greater than the difficulties we’ll face out in the world. In 1 John he’s writing about false spirits and antichrists. So this is like a rallying cry. Something we need to remember again and again. We have a knack at forgetting what we believe to be true and we need that constant refreshing. So a song like this can do well when we direct it inward and keep telling ourselves that God is greater.
1 John does have plenty to say for how we should Iive and love. The call of the Christian is a high calling. But ultimately it is about what Christ has done and he is greater than any other so-called powers.
(Now I’ll quietly say my one persnickety nitpick. I’ll put this whole paragraph in parentheses to further downplay it. Skip if you’d like. The refrain is this long “in the world.” Or more accurately, “in the wooooooooorld.” You can listen below. That tone is strange because the part that is held out repeatedly is talking about the the false spirits in the world and “he” who is out there with power. He’s likely talking about Satan. God in us is greater than Satan, or any demonic forces in the world. If I write a song that says “God is greater than Satan”, I’d try to avoid repeating “Satan” in a soaring chorus. Anyways…)
Again, this song helps me remember that God is greater, and for that I am appreciative. Give it a few listens and let that victorious truth lift you up.
Year in the Bible 