Preface
Build My Life is my second article to be submitted for publishing as a member of the Young Writers Program organised by Press Services International. This program helps to provide a ready-source of content for the magazine publication Christian Today Australia. You can read that article here.
The version that you read here is an extended version of the original article. Whereas a 900-word limit applies to article submissions, this version has no word count limitation so some of the ideas will be more fully explored here.
Introduction
One of the ways I like to focus my writing is to analyze the lyrics of a song; typically a worship song. I find this a good discipline that complements my service in my church’s worship ministry. I think, in the early days, this technique was taught to me as a way to go deeper with songs in the worship of our God.
Do you sometimes feel God is trying to reach you through a song? The signs can sometimes be just that – through the independent selection of the same song – God will get your attention through that one song and draw you close to Him. Build My Life, written and composed by Housefires, was chosen by three different groups/individuals as a song for worship in the space of one whole week.
Verse 1
Worthy of every song we could ever sing
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe
We live for you
From a grammatical perspective each lyric here implies a “You are” at the start. God, You are worthy of every song, all the praise, every breath. From the beginning, the focus of my attention is drawn to God, and rightly so as He is the object of my/your worship. It does not matter where I am in my life, or what I am doing, for when I worship You, nothing else matters.
Verse 2
Jesus the name above every other name
Jesus the only one who could save
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe
We live for you
Oh we live for you
Jesus, may Your name be exalted above any and every name. There is power and personification in Jesus. Calling out God can sound impersonal, but to cry out Jesus adds in a personal relationship and connection, there is recognition – for believers like myself, that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour. Jesus, it is Your name that offers salvation and healing. I think of Peter in Acts chapter 3 verse 6, “Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
When lines are repeated in a song, they embed the right attitude and mindset. Every single moment in my life should be a moment lived in worship and service to our Saviour.
Chorus
Holy there is no one like you
There is none beside you
Open up my eyes in wonder
And show me who you are
And fill me with your heart
And lead me in your love to those around me
Ascribing holiness helps me to remember that God is sovereign and indeed unique; there is no one like or equal to You. As I elevate God to His rightful place in my life, I ask You for help. And not help in a selfish way, but really in the most appropriate way – God, help reveal to me how I am to live and see the world around me. Help me to love those around me, especially those hard to love. Change and transform not just my heart, but also the people who receive Your love through my actions or words.
In the original song design, the transition from chorus to bridge has an interlude where the melody of the upcoming bridge is played. I love this time of free worship, where I can press in to my Holy God. Even though He is far above and exalted, incredibly this same God wants to connect with me and have an intimate relationship. As I focus on that awesome fact, the bridge lyrics become my natural response.
Bridge
And I will build my life upon your love
It is a firm foundation
And I will put my trust in you alone
And I will not be shaken
These are all positive statements declaring what I will and want to do in response to receiving so much love and attention from You, my Heavenly Father. You Lord, Your love is the basis and firm foundation on which I will build my life. It is solely and completely on You that I place my trust. When I do that, I know my life and world cannot be shaken.
The bridge of Build My Life is clearly where the song draws its title from. The declarative anthem gives me boldness to proclaim God is our beginning and end. What better way to start your life in Christ? What better way to express and align our hearts and minds? God’s love is more than enough for any one of us.
I find that researching the background of a worship song is useful for providing greater context to the songwriter/band. Often, I will have my own reasons and personal impact from a song but when I find out that it was written with other events in mind, this changed my perspective. Sometimes, God and His Word is like that. The same words become alive, particularly when the Holy Spirit helps to discern greater meaning from the Gospel, or in this case, a God-inspired worship song. Thank you Housefires.
Song Usage in Wedding
As mentioned at the start of this article, this worship song played a strong role in Spiritual influence when it was brought up independently three times in the short space of a week. At this time back in 2018, I was doing wedding preparation and this song was selected for inclusion in a special performance that my wife and I would lead in during the reception dinner program.
This song was selected because the focus was on how I/we would build our life on the foundation of Jesus’ love. It was therefore quite intentional and appropriate for us to include it in our wedding celebration, which we had themed “serving together”. At this point in time of writing, videos of the performance are not yet available, but to share a bit of the choreography which we – the wedding couple – had planned, Build My Life was the final musical item, a culmination of the journey and story we planned to share/tell. The story with accompanying music was designed to provide the following narrative:
- Our individual childhoods (photos)
- How we first met but were still figuring out our lives (short duet of Million Dreams)
- A short Life Group skit which re-enacted how we got together
- How we officially became boyfriend/girlfriend (short duet of A Whole New World along with background photo slideshow)
- The proposal (video)
- Leading to being together (photo slideshow)
- And finally being together (worship leading Build My Life)
- Modified version of our wedding vows & concluding bible verse
The feedback on our musical performance, along with incorporating worship at the end indicated that many of our guests were truly touched and not just enjoyed but actively sang along, exactly as we intended to build and embrace the community aspect of our wedding and how we all serve God together.
As we sang Build My Life, the bridal party slowly joined us on the dance floor, creating the sense of community as we all sang and worshiped God together.
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
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