Song title: So in Love

Artist(s): Jason Nelson

Reviewer: CoolImprov

Chorus

I'm madly, insanely, desperately in love with you.
And nothing will ever distract me from loving you

I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you
I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you

Verse 1

You graced me, embraced me, you stayed with me when everybody walked away
You loved me, unconditionally that's why I will forever give you the praise

Chorus

I'm madly, insanely, desperately in love with you.
And nothing will ever distract me from loving you.

I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you
I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you

Verse 2

You see me, you know me, you still love me
Thanks for your amazing grace
And my heart is turned toward you that's why I love for the rest of my days.

Chorus

I'm madly, insanely, desperately in love with you.
And nothing will ever distract me from loving you

I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you
I'm in love with you, you Jesus
You, you

Oh, oh you have my love forever

Jason Nelson is a well-recognized voice in Christian music. Besides being a Stellar award winning artist, He is also a Pastor, Husband, and Father. For those of you who have read my reviews in the past know that I have a love-hate relationship with contemporary Gospel music. Some of it I love and a lot of it I hate.

The song that captured my attention for this review is a ditty entitled, "So in Love". A few days ago I'm driving in my vehicle and on comes this tune. It starts off, "I'm madly, insanely, desperately in love with you...." I thought to myself, "Oh, a Christian love song". Again, I said to myself (since I'm the only one in the car) "You know, we need MORE romantic, Christian based love songs". The song continued and that's when I put on the brakes and almost caused a 10 car pileup (Just kidding). Jason wasn't singing about some woman, He was singing about JESUS.

Hold up, hold up. I have a big problem when we romanticize the Saviour. "He's my heavenly boyfriend", "He's my lover", "He's my husband". I did a little research and discovered that there is a movement out there called, "The Romancing Jesus movement". Here is an example from many, of the Romancing Jesus ideology, "I fly to Paris and discover how to make love to God.” This closing chapter, “The Joy of Intimacy,” is her discovery of God through something akin to sexual intimacy. In a chapter laden with intimate imagery she falls in love with God again, but this time, hears him urging to respond. She wants more of him. And then, at last, she experiences some kind of spiritual climax, some understanding of what it means to fully live, of what it means to be one with Christ, to experience the deepest kind of union. “God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of His love for us. Couldn’t I make love to God, making every moment love for Him? To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin?” (From Ann Voskamp's book, One thousand gifts).

Much of Jason's song I can get with, "You graced me, embraced me, you stayed with me when everybody walked away
You loved me, unconditionally that's why I will forever give you the praise.....You see me, you know me, you still love me
Thanks for your amazing grace and my heart is turned toward you that's why I love for the rest of my days".

Amen to the above sentiments. BUT, I have a BIG problem with, "....I'm madly, insanely, desperately in love with you...." especially coming from a MAN. I don't mean to go off topic, but this Romanticizing Jesus movement in our churches is ONE of the MANY reasons men treat church like the plague. A'int no red-blooded, meat-eating, HETEROSEXUAL brother gonna be caught dead telling another MAN, "I'm in love with you", Jesus or not (No disrespect Lord).

There is a world of difference between "Loving the Lord" and being, "in love with the Lord". One is Biblical and the other is Sensual and Unbiblical.

Let me close with a quote from a blogger named Erin. She puts a nice cap on this subject. "Romanticism cannot express the essence of the Christian life accurately or Biblically. It's usefulness as a way of describing the Christian life has been greatly exaggerated, and based mostly on a wrong reading of the Song of Solomon. The theme of the Bride of Christ is important in the New Testament, but it never resulted in expressions of romanticism in the life and worship of the church. Instead, images like the bride resulted in higher esteem for the church as a redeemed community, not a more personalized and emotional individual experience for the believer. Romanticism is not a significant Biblical expression of praise, certainly not worthy of becoming a regular part of our worship, prayer, and communication of the Gospel. As understood and experienced today, romanticism is a flawed metaphor for delighting in and loving God. It is vastly inferior to scripture's own description of love for God as seeking our joy in obedience to the Lord. "Come fall in love with Jesus," is not an invitation to faith that we should endorse or repeat" (donotbesurprised.com)

In His grip,
CoolImprov

What "I can do all things through Christ" really means.

Let me introduce you to one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, misquoted verses in ALL of the Bible. It’s Philippians 4:13. The Apostle writes, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. I don’t know about you, but I’ve heard this verse used to justify every conceivable idea and endeavor known to man.

What is this verse really teaching? Is Paul teaching us that no matter what we put our minds and efforts to we CAN DO IT, we CAN achieve it?

Let’s see.

Philippians 4:13 is surrounded by a CONTEXT. Let me address this important concept for just a moment. In Bible college, one of the things that were drilled into our heads in exegesis class was this, “CONTEXT IS KING”. You cannot, you should not attempt to understand any verse of scripture apart from the context from which it derives. It is believed that the Professor and Bible Teacher D.A Carson is credited with saying, “"A text without a context is a pretext for a proof text." In the words of one writer, “without examining the context in which something (in this case, Scripture) was said, one can easily (or even intentionally) misappropriate or misuse or misapply or misrepresent a text to support a position that it, in fact, does not support”.

Folks this kind of Bible mishandling happens ALL the time by very well meaning folk. Let me give you another example. Folks often want to feel good about the size of their Tuesday night prayer meeting. Exactly 4 people showed up and one of them was a child. So, in order to help us feel better, we tell each other, “Where two or three are gathered in His name……” You know the rest. That verse found in Matthew 18:20, I hate to tell you has nothing to do with prayer meetings. In fact, this verse is not even talking about prayer, in other words, prayer is NOT the subject matter. This is why CONTEXT is king.

So, what is Paul teaching in Philippians 4:13?

The CONTEXT of verse 13 begins in verse 10 and runs through verse 20. Paul tells the Philippians that he's excited that their concern for him has reignited (vs 10). He goes on to say that he knows that they always cared, but the problem was that they lacked opportunity. In verse 11 he states that he’s not referring just to physical need and that through his neediness he has learned the awesome lesson of CONTENTMENT (vs. 12).

Bam!! This is what verse 13 is all about. When Paul states that, “he can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens him.” He’s talking about CONTENTMENT, NOT Ability or Opportunity. The "ALL THINGS" are found in verse 12, which are the varied circumstances of life. Paul states whether rich or poor, hungry or full, I know how to be CONTENT. Contentment can be defined as, "sufficient to self" (self-sufficient and competent) and so to be independent of external circumstances and independent of all people. One secular writer used autarkes in reference to a country that supplied itself and had no need of imports. True contentment comes only from our Lord, and enables believers to be satisfied and at ease in the midst of any problem. Autarkes therefore describes the man who needs nothing externally to be satisfied in life for all he needs is within. the believer who has Christ dwelling within”.

Let me say this, and I don’t mean to be offensive. The reasons why so many Christians are running around like chickens with cut off heads looking for the next thing, the next level, the next blessing, the next outpouring, the next, the next, the next, is because unlike Paul they have not learned this critical skill of CONTENTMENT. The reason why divorce is running rampant through the Christian community is because we have not learned the critical skill of CONTENTMENT. The reason why Christians are chasing experience after experience is because we have not learned the critical skill of CONTENTMENT.

So, what is Paul talking about in Philippians 4:13 when He says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”? He’s talking about CONTENTMENT.

The great Bible Teacher John Calvin wrote, “"Whatever my condition may be, I am satisfied with it. "Why? because saints know that they thus please God. Hence, they do not measure sufficiency by abundance, but by the will of God, which they judge of by what takes place, for they are persuaded that their affairs are regulated by his providence and good pleasure."

Amen!!

Todd