ChristianDance

Grudges or grace — which one am I holding onto?  “Seventy Times Seven” by Tony Thomas opens with a guess. “Three? Seven?” Tony wonders, unsure how many times forgiveness is required before it’s enough. It’s a fair question. Most of us keep some kind of tally, even if we’d never admit it out loud. ‘Enough is enough…’ , ‘This can’t go on…’ , ‘There’s a limit to my patience…’ , etc. The lyrics go back to a real conversation between the apostle Peter and Jesus. Peter once asked Jesus the same question, wondering if seven times was generous enough. Jesus answered with “seventy times seven” . The message here is that math was never the point. It’s about breaking the habit of counting altogether.  That answer sits at the center of Matthew 18:21–22 (NKJV), where Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus replied, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”   In Biblical numerology...

Would you give your son (daughter/family) a stone? Three friends spent a night writing a song about a good Father, and somewhere in that room, a deeper truth surfaced and the song “Good Gifts” came to life. They kept circling back to Matthew 7:9–11, where Jesus asks a simple question: “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” What kind of person would do that, regardless of whether the person asking is their child, family, friend, or neighbor? In the song “Good Gifts”, Hanna Noel takes this scene from Matthew 7 and turns it into a song of worship. At the same time, the song is an invitation to trust that God is also there for you: “Which of us would ask for help // And you in turn would hide yourself.” The answer, obviously, is that God isn’t going to turn around and hide, because that’s not who God is. But here’s where the song changes our focus from the bread & stone to a more significant gift. The chorus declares, “You know how to give good gifts // Bu...

Have you ever grown numb to a miracle?  “What A Savior” by Will & Jacinta Ellis and Crossing Life Worship began as a chorus in a co-write, before it took on a life of its own. Will & Jacinta wanted something rich and almost hymn-like, a bold declaration of who Jesus is — not a tired restatement, but a fresh look. They never wanted to grow “used to” what Jesus accomplished, so they wrote about holding on to Him in every season, regardless of whether it’s calm or chaotic.  The opening lines start with the redemption through Jesus’ blood: “The precious fount, that cleansing flow, the Son of God poured out for all.” That’s the blood that Jesus spilled for you. The song moves from the cleansing through His blood to the result: “The debt I owed and all sin’s claims were buried with You in the grave.” Your debt. Buried. Gone.  Here’s where it gets even more personal. Romans 5:8 says, “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” ...

Remember what it felt like to be simply loved?  Kids don’t overthink love. They run toward it, arms open, no résumé required. Somewhere between our childhood and adulthood, most of us lose that instinct. We start to believe that love is something that has to be earned.  Ash Wiseman wrote “Like a Kid Again” after sitting with the words Jesus speaks in John chapter 15. Jesus told His disciples something staggering: He doesn’t just want followers, He wants friends. The song opens by describing the majesty of God, the “God of the universe” who “spoke the light to birth,” the “Holder of all the stars.” When you hear the first lines, it may seem like we have a distant God, but as the song continues, we are reminded that He bends down into intimacy with each of us. “In your humility // Lord you came down for me.”   That’s the same God who, as the lyrics put it, “still holds my heart.” Why would the One who holds galaxies together care about you? The pre-chorus asks that ques...

What happens when success becomes your idol? DVNY was a career musician who spent years chasing the next festival, the next club, the next milestone. The applause kept coming, but something inside him kept fading. He shares: “I realized my career had become an idol and I felt further from God than ever.” The closer he got to the top, the further he drifted from God. The song “HIGHER” is what surrender sounds like when you finally stop climbing. The song opens in a familiar place: “In the darkness, You’re my light.” Our journeys may differ, but experiencing His light in our darkness is a memory many of us share. DVNY describes how the walls were closing in, ash and dust settling around him, and then a voice breaking through the noise: “I can hear your voice within.” Notice what happens next. DVNY doesn’t fight harder, he decides to trust God. “That you’re here with deepest peace, I can feel my breath release.” The apostle Paul wrote about that same release. Writing from prison, strip...

What if you didn’t have to hold it all together on your own? Morgan Starner wrote “Sink or Swim” as an antidote to a world drowning in stress. She explains that the song is meant to remind us that God can walk on water, even when everything around us feels like it’s sinking. The song opens with a familiar pain: “I’ve been noticing my heart’s been racing, my mind is impatient.” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Just scroll through your social media for ten minutes, and you’ll feel it too, a restless static that Starner calls “scrolling till my soul’s become restless.” We already start to stress about the next thing before the current thing has even settled. The song points us to a safe way forward. “When I’m drowning underneath the weight, You take all of my burdens away.” That’s not wishful thinking. It’s a decision to stop treading water alone by making God a key part of your life. Remember Matthew 14:29–31, where Peter steps out of the boat and walks toward Jesus on the water? He’s per...

Can worries stop the seasons from changing? “Changing” by Anne Elise is about the beauty and uncertainty of life’s changing seasons. Anne Elise sings, “I was just getting used to the flowers, when everything was green,” and then mid-September showed up uninvited. The colors shifted before she was ready for it. By December, snow covered the sidewalk, she heard a choir singing somewhere in the cold, and she wondered, “Wasn’t it just yesterday?” That question hits close to home, doesn’t it? Life rarely waits for permission to move on. Life’s seasons blur into the next, and we’re left standing in something unfamiliar, whispering “oh my my” under our breath. Here’s what makes this song more than a pretty metaphor… Its message points to a truth that many of us try to resist. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.” Not some things… “for everything!” The job that ended, the friendship that faded, the year that didn’t go as plann...