Bringing Home’s ‘To the Ones’ Powerfully Addresses the Problem of Pain – Opinion

The image of current Christian music as an endless stream of poorly rhymed clichéd praise is mercifully shattered by the husband and wife duo Bringing Home’s sobering new video for their song “To the Ones.” In lieu of the usual closed eyes and open arms while standing in a field humdrum, the video hits on themes of aging, grief, loneliness, and prayer’s power not residing in our telling God what He already knows but instead in how it allows Him to directly communicate with us, ofttimes with a message demanding immediate action on our part.

The song’s lyrics tackle the risky path of speaking in Christ’s voice to His people. If this is not done well, it can become a real Scriptural quagmire. Amber Russell and Jared Russell of Bringing Home are able to handle the task with great skill.

The Russells describe the song as, “(A) cry from the Father’s heart declaring to us, ‘I see You.’” They add:

“We, as humans, have all faced hardships at different times in our lives, and we’re all in need of saving. Our prayer is for God to remind us that even when we don’t understand, life can be too much. He was there to chase you. He can break the chains that keep us shackled and restore hope to those who have none.”

The song is unique in that it addresses the taboo topic of Christians dealing with grief and loneliness. This subject can be criticized and even accused of being lacking faith if they admit to this to others. The saying “only Christians kill their wounded” has sadly more basis in truth than many of us who believe in Jesus ofttimes care to admit. This is powerfully brought out in the video, where an elderly pastor successfully preaches the Gospel to his congregation without letting on to his inner agony brought about by his wife’s passing.

The following passage appears in the song

To those with pain, guilt and hurt
All hope seems lost.
My loved ones cry for me
To set you free, I offered my life.

Says it quite well, doesn’t it?

The church’s purpose has never been to house the always triumphant. As Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” The church should always be where the broken are welcome by their fellow members of the unfortunate fellowship. It is not possible to have faith in Christ and be protected from any heartache. People who are good can still experience terrible things. It is inevitable that we will experience pain. It will be difficult. This is why we relate to Jesus, Who, although God, was a “Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” We understand there is a cost to living in a fallen world. We also know the great and glorious day will come, when the words “(a)nd God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” will be fulfilled. It doesn’t mean there will be no tears between now and then, as I well know. It’s easy to forget that Jesus wept. We sometimes forget that even Jesus wept.

The song goes:

This is for the lost, lonely, and hurting.
This goes out to the hopeless ones, the desperate ones, the ones who’ve gone away
In the night I see you crying out, I’ll never walk away
The lonely, broken, and the suffering ones.

We can all do it for each other and for ourselves.

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