Closer Than My Own Breath

Changing My Tune about a Praise Song that Wasn't My Favorite

Photo by Carol Oliver on Unsplash

I will always love the old hymns of the faith. They do well for my soul (see what I did there?). And I am fairly quick to adopt new songs/hymns of praise. There are oceans of them (sorry. . . I’ll stop). If the content and theology are biblically accurate, it’s hard for me not to like a song.

Being honest, however, a popular one (of late) hasn’t been my absolute favorite. “Great are You Lord” by All Sons and Daughters has been “meh” for me at best. I have always loved the crescendo at the end. I love how it builds. But, boy or boy, does it take a while to get there (in my humble and accurate opinion).

In addition to starting slow, there are these lines that repeat. For me, the words have felt too good to be a true. Honestly, the repetitive lyrics felt a bit hokey.

“It’s your breath in our lungs

So we pour out our praise, we pour out our praise

It’s your breath in our lungs

So we pour out our praise to You only.”

See what I mean? As the congregation has sung this song in the past, I’ve gone along with it, awkwardly singing the refrain while looking forward to the crescendo.

Until recently.

For the past month or so, I have been digging in to what it means to be “in Christ.” It’s Paul’s favorite label for believers. He doesn’t call Jesus followers Christians. He doesn’t call them Jesus followers. He calls Christians as those “in Christ.” Over 160 times in the New Testament the phrase is used. Paul trips over himself, passionately informing the churches that at their conversion, they died with Christ and now live with Christ. He goes to great lengths to get this truth lived inside of them. Christ in them. They in Christ. A union. A branch to a vine. A body to a head. A husband and a wife. Living stones on a foundation. Inseparable.

Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash

If this is true (and it’s hard to read the New Testament and not believe it to be so), then I don’t follow after Jesus. At least, not in the sense that He is distant from me. He lives inside of me! I don’t chase hard after God. God Himself dwells in me! In fact, according to Paul my life is now “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). Not will be hidden with him in God one day. No, no. Right now. Me in Christ. Christ in me.

In my digging, I have been reminded of a phrase I heard several years ago (sorry, I cannot recall where I heard it. . . I just know it is not original with me). “Jesus is closer to you than your own breath.” This is gloriously true. And so are the lyrics that were once “meh” to me. It’s a fact. It actually is the breath of Jesus breathing in me.

To say that I am only beginning to grasp what being “in Christ” means is an understatement (theologians call it “Union with Christ)”. I don’t even feel like I have started to begin to properly understand this massively important and life-transforming reality. But I want to. To be united to Christ Jesus in both His death and His life feels too good to be true. But it’s not. It is actually true.

So I’ll keep digging. I encourage you to do the same. In the meantime, join me in not passing over seemingly hokey lyrics too quickly. If Jesus’s breath really is in us breathing, we might need to lean into that a bit and learn what it means.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to write an apology and a thank you note to All Sons and Daughters.