We are winning! So they say. Recently, singer Tobymac made history with his new song “Eye On It” becoming the first Christian artist in the past fifteen years to achieve the number one position on the Billboard Music Chart. Before you toss your hat in the air though, pause and read the lyrics to the song the “Christian community” is rejoicing over (see below). Or if you really want, you can also listen to the song HERE.

An analogy comes to mind to describe my response. In a season of drought,  people often drink things they wouldn’t in normal circumstances. During times of famine, cow patties become a source of food. A father coming home to a houseful of children which are starving hungry might be met with rejoicing as he presents a fresh harvest of dried cattle dung. I think the problem with this analogy is that it is too flattering to the song, suggesting that there may be some small spiritually nutritive value in it even if it tastes bad – and is bad.

After witnessing the hoopla, I read the lyrics. Conclusion: we must be in a serious spiritual drought. So now, I am concerned for the singer, the hearer, and the kind of “Christian” community that is celebrating. In this case, I’m not rejoicing with those who rejoice. This is no victory for Christianity. Removing every vestige of Christianity from a song in order achieve popularity is not success. This is no cause for celebration.

But Tobymac is not alone in this strategy. We have been employing this same strategy in our churches for generations now. The strategy works like this: You have to remove Christian language and Christian culture in order to get a hearing. Paul’s words “I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:22) and “we are not under the law but under grace” (Rom. 6:15) have been taken out of context and used as a license to do anything and everything the world does – even if it is contrary to Scripture. Generations ago, with milder applications of this mis-interpretation, it was hard to see where it would lead. But today, we wake up in a world where a vile, meaningless, counter-Christian hard rock song reaching the top of the music charts is a Christian victory. Welcome to the world where the modern evangelical church has lost the message and its saltiness. Now there is little distinction between the world and the “church.” Charles Spurgeon said this is like entertaining goats instead of feeding sheep.

It is time to take a deep breath. If we are willing to be honest with ourselves, it is not hard to discover where we went off the tracks. And it is thrilling to know that we are not left to ourselves to feel out a new and better course of action. All we need to do is to do what we should have done all along: go back to the all-sufficient Word of God and start obeying it. God has given us clear commands for what to sing (1 Chr. 16:9; 16:23; Ps. 47:7; 51:14; 59:16; 66:2; 101:1). Scripture alone defines for us what is victory and what is actually failure.

Eye on it, eye on it, eye on it.

Eye on it, eye on it, eye on it.

Eye on it, eye on it.

I set my eyes to the west, walkin’ away from it all

Reachin’ for what lies ahead, I got my eye on it

I see my sweat hit the ground, I put my foot in the block

This is the race of my life and I can’t wait for this shot

‘Cause I can feel the wind at my back

Chest is pumpin’ like a heart attack

Feet are movin’ and my mind is locked

Pressin’ on with everything I got

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on it, it it,

Eye on it

Eye on the prize

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on the prize

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on the prize

I got my eye on it, it, it.

I got my eye on it and I will not quit

I got a new passenger to help me navigate the way

So when my heart hits the floor, I can recalibrate

I feel the deeper callin’ me, all else is fadin’ in the past

So let me run in the race that I know is built to last

‘Cause I can feel the wind at my back

Chest is pumpin’ like a heart attack

Feet are movin’ and my mind is locked

Pressin’ on I gotta take my shot

REPEAT CHORUS

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on it, it it,

Eye on it

Eye on the prize

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on the prize

I got my eye on it

I got my eye on the prize

I got my eye on it, it, it.

Tags: Bible, charts, Christ, eye, godliness, gospel, hate, Honor, sacrifice, sight, sing, song, speech, toby mac, tobymac, Word