This song has always felt very honest and comes across as genuine because it doesn't resolve (like many of JoC's songs) in a clear resolution or path forward.
It's about the comedy of the human condition. Everyone knows one thing but does another, or says one thing but does another, or understands the difference between good and evil but ends up doing both.
The entire song is the singer laughing at themselves, and how goofy they must appear to God, who sees the obvious good path from above and likely is frustrated as to why human beings can want what is good and even talk all kinds of truth about what they believe is good and then when they actually do things in life they go completely off the rails.
I especially like the later refrain where he very directly says God's arms are reaching out to embrace him, but because of where he is it feels like chains and he wishes God would let him go. There is a bit of a darker meaning here, they could be alluding to it - not sure.
It happens so often in spiritual growth - the things guiding us towards the best outcomes often feel like torture and brute force when we want something else.
If you follow what someone does, not what they say they believe, you often find that the black and white beliefs that are expressed don't match up - the black and white ideas fade to grey in action.
And that's being human. I appreciate that a Christian songwriter can write such a great song about such a terrifying moment to get stuck in. Kicking against the goads, so to speak, sucks.
This song has always felt very honest and comes across as genuine because it doesn't resolve (like many of JoC's songs) in a clear resolution or path forward.
It's about the comedy of the human condition. Everyone knows one thing but does another, or says one thing but does another, or understands the difference between good and evil but ends up doing both.
The entire song is the singer laughing at themselves, and how goofy they must appear to God, who sees the obvious good path from above and likely is frustrated as to why human beings can want what is good and even talk all kinds of truth about what they believe is good and then when they actually do things in life they go completely off the rails.
I especially like the later refrain where he very directly says God's arms are reaching out to embrace him, but because of where he is it feels like chains and he wishes God would let him go. There is a bit of a darker meaning here, they could be alluding to it - not sure.
It happens so often in spiritual growth - the things guiding us towards the best outcomes often feel like torture and brute force when we want something else.
If you follow what someone does, not what they say they believe, you often find that the black and white beliefs that are expressed don't match up - the black and white ideas fade to grey in action.
And that's being human. I appreciate that a Christian songwriter can write such a great song about such a terrifying moment to get stuck in. Kicking against the goads, so to speak, sucks.