So, you’re a songwriter…It’s the words!! Content

CONTENT

Alrightey now! You’ve got all that inspiration burning inside you and you want to tell the world through your music. Hey, that’s great, but before you lay it all out there, it wouldn’t hurt to check out a few guidelines.

It goes without saying that the most important element of Christian and Messianic music is the message. Any songwriter in this genre has a responsibility to accurately proclaim whatever aspect of the faith we are dealing with. The most logical source of material is scripture. There are thousands and thousands of songs directly based on the word, but the opportunity for new ones is unlimited, and any song that is scriptural is bound to be true and relevant.

There are a number of different avenues our songs can take. Probably the most obvious is sharing ones feelings, which is great, but there has to be some caution. Our purpose is to proclaim the “gospel”, which literally means “good news”. Now, if all we are doing is dumping a negative line on people, we have done no one any good. Let’s take a look at a perfect example in Psalm 116:

³ The cords of death entangled me,
the anguish of the grave ^[a] came upon me:

I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

You can’t get much more down-hearted than that, BUT the writer of the psalm doesn’t leave it there:

⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD :
"O LORD, save me!"

⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous;
our God is full of compassion.

Oh yeah! That’s some good stuff. It doesn’t stay in the mud, it lifts us out, and proclaims the grace of God. As far as I can tell every psalm, no matter what the anguish, points to the One who lifts us up. The perfect “gospel song” is the song of testimony, which normally tells (1) where we were—what condition we were in; (2) What the Lord did; and (3) where we are now.

My favorite type of songs are praise and worship, which can be sung individually, but are normally designed for the whole congregation. They are usually simple to sing and are directed at an aspect of our Lord. They can be sung in the first person, and express our praise, devotion, awe, etc., or they can express God’s love, might, grace, etc. A good praise and worship song will move a person’s focus away from themselves and on to “the author and finisher of our faith”. I think of the song I learned as a kid, which sums it all up:

“Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face,

And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,

in the light of His glory and grace.”