I started working on this song around the time I moved to North Carolina for seminary. I initially came up with the first line and got stuck after that. Typically, my songwriting process starts with the lyrics. I keep spiral notebooks all over the place where I jot down song ideas and work through the writing process over time. This particular song kept coming back to me from time to time and there are fragments of it in various notebooks. About 6 years passed between when I started this song and when I finished it. In fact, I literally completed it within days of recording it.
The song is all about the Gospel. The chorus echoes what Jesus proclaims in John 14:6 when He says, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (ESV) The Bible says that it all comes down to Jesus. When I started writing this song, I was wrestling with how to respond to those people that call Jesus' claim to be the "only way" as being offensive or narrow-minded. These people ask, "How can you Christians claim that your way is the only right way?" Ultimately, whether it offends or not, the truth is that we point to what Jesus says in scripture. As far as being offensive...I think it all comes down to how you look at it. If my life or my eternity was truly in danger, I would want to know it. I would rather be offended or made uncomfortable than to believe a lie and perish. I like the analogy of a burning building: If you were in a crowded building, like a shopping mall or a school and it were to catch fire, you would want to get out rather than burn up. Imagine that you are in that fiery situation and someone starts yelling, "all of the exits are blocked but one...and I know how to get us there." Are you going to be offended by the fact that there is only ONE WAY out of the building? I don't think so. You are going to get to that exit no matter how hard it may be! It is not offensive to you at the time because it is your key to freedom and life. The claims of Jesus will be offensive to you if your religion, tradition, or belief system tells you otherwise. But if you were wrong, wouldn't you want to know? If you were putting your hope in a lie, wouldn't you want to know the truth? I would rather be offended now than suffer for eternity! This is the message of this song. Jesus is THE WAY. FUN FACTS: - Writtten over a span of 6 years...completed in November of 2011 - Although it was the last song to be written on the EP, it wound up being the title track - Originally, I intended for there to be 2 other songs set to this tune to go with it called "The Truth" & "The Life." DOWNLOAD IT TODAY:
2 Comments
9/6/2013 03:44:04 pm
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