Honest Hymns
Do you ever feel guilty when singing a hymn because you know you’re not living up to its theme? There are several that I struggle with. One of them is “I Surrender All.” If I’m honest, I have to change the words to “I Surrender Some.”
I think we all sometimes have to sing the words of a hymn as a goal and not as a claim that we always live that way. In fact, many of our hymns should probably be sung as aspirations rather than bold professions of reality.
What if someone invented a “truth detector” that could sense what a person should really be singing instead of the original words in the hymn? I thought it might be interesting to come up with a list of hymns that reflect more honestly how some who sing them are thinking and acting.
As you read the song titles and first lines below, ask yourself whether any of them fits you better than the original.
