Getty and his wife seek to write “great modern hymns that would transform the world for Christ” and strengthen and transform children while championing others to do so as well.  

At a time when deconstructing one’s faith almost seems trendy, hymn writer Keith Getty is emphasizing the important role theologically sound, biblically-grounded hymns play in strengthening the next generation of believers.
In an interview with The Christian Post, the “In Christ Alone” writer lamented a movement he’s seen permeate churches of all denominations, sizes and demographics across the United States in recent years.
“The pastor goes, ‘I preach the Word. Everybody else do the rest, and I’ll just concentrate on the sermon.’ Well, that’s, that’s stupidity. That’s not how the Bible was written. That’s not how the Church fathers behaved,” Getty said.
Everyone from the great reformers like Martin Luther and John Calvin to revivalists including Jonathan Edwards and Dwight Moody understood that, “Yes, you preach the Word, but what your congregation sings and the shape of your services, from the prayers to the Bible readings, is crucially important,” he continued.
“We have to be able to do that,” Getty stressed. “What if we don’t do that? What will happen is, we’ve got a generation of children going to churches that are imaginative and lively and fill their imaginations but are shallow. Or else, we get people going to churches that are full of truth, but they’re so boring and so loveless and joyless, that there’s none of the attractiveness of Christianity to draw people. The first thing that actually attracts their imagination will draw them away.”
He added, “There’s a huge danger with it. I would say to any pastor or teacher out there—love your people enough to care about what they sing.”
Keith Getty and his wife, Kristyn, are behind some of today’s most beloved hymns, including “He Will Hold Me Fast,” “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” and “The Power of the Cross.” The Irish-born duo’s organization, Getty Music, includes a publishing company of modern hymn writers, a record label, touring company and an online learning company.
Through their platform, Getty said he and his wife seek to write “great modern hymns that would transform the world for Christ” and strengthen and transform children while championing others to do so as well.
The father of four daughters, ages 10, 7, 6 and 3, Getty feels strongly about instilling Scripture through song in children at a young age. Thanks in part to the rise of social media, the challenges facing children today are “unprecedented,” he stressed, and thus, parents can “get away with less.”
“I think we have to make sure that our children know the Scriptures better than they know us, better than even they know their own careers,” he said. “I think they have to be more passionate and be more creative and imaginative in love for the Lord than their love for Disney. If we do not put songs that so fill their emotions with the Lord, then ‘Frozen’ will take those songs, and ‘Frozen’ is anti-Christian. They’re great songs…but they’re not Christian.”
Read More

Whereas David dealt with his own sins, Jesus bore our iniquities upon his head as our perfect substitute and propitiation. The scene of the cross was not one of despair, however. The words of David in Psalm 31:5 (“Into your hand I commit my spirit”) are words of confidence, and Jesus spoke those words of confidence in Luke 23:46. The cross was the result of the obedience of the Son of God, who satisfied divine judgment in the place of sinners and who entrusted himself to the Father. 

According to the superscription, David is the author of Psalm 31. And overall, the message of this psalm is confidence in God. Despite physical travail and the frustration of sins (Ps. 31:9–10), and despite the conspiracy of enemies and the rejection of neighbors (31:11), David has entrusted himself to the Lord.
In verse 5, a familiar line rings out: “Into your hand I commit my spirit.” Readers may recognize that line more from the scene of Christ’s cross than from the writings of David. Whereas verse 5 uses “hand” (singular), Jesus uses “hands” (plural). In Luke 23:46, Jesus said with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And then he died.
There are multiple sayings from Jesus at the cross in the passion scenes which the four Gospels report, but only in Luke 23:46 is there an allusion to Psalm 31:5. In fact, more than an allusion, Luke 23:46 is basically a quotation of the psalm line.
The context of Psalm 31 matters for the cross scene. In Psalm 31, David is experiencing bodily distress and the onslaught of his enemies. But David trusts in the Lord. God is his rock and fortress, his deliverer and stronghold (31:3).
Now behold the cross where the Son of David is dying. As a true and greater David, the Lord Jesus has faced the antagonism of his enemies, and he experiences the affliction of suffering in his body and heart.
Read More
Related Posts:

The goodness of God should stir us to grateful worship. For, in God, “infinite cheerfulness attends infinite goodness” (to quote Charnock one more time). “Who will show us some good?” the Psalmist asks. The answer is the Lord who shines the light of his face upon us. “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound” (Ps. 4:6-7). The God of infinite cheerfulness and infinite goodness is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the heavenly Father of all those who call upon him in the name of his Son.

One of the first things we learn about God is that he is good. “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food.” Many of us grew up hearing this prayer at the dinner table. It’s good theology—simple and true.

It also highlights an attribute of God that is surprisingly hard to define. We think we know what it means for God to be good, until we try to explain it. Then we usually start listing other attributes (God is loving, God is gracious, God is kind) or resort to platitudes (God helps us). It takes some reflection to understand all that we mean—or should mean—when we confess that God is good.

Defining Our Terms

Before coming to a simple definition of what God’s goodness is, we must say what it is not.

By goodness we do not mean that God is relatively good. If we say, “That hotdog is good,” we mean, “Of all the hotdogs out there, this is one of the better ones.” This is not what God is like. God is not good because he compares favorably to other gods. There is none like the LORD; he alone is God (Ps. 86:8–10).

By goodness we do not mean that God is morally exemplary or ethically upright. Of course, that’s gloriously true. But “goodness” should not be confused with “holiness.”

Nor, by goodness, do we mean that God is merciful. We see in Exodus 33 that these two things—goodness and mercy—cannot be separated, but strictly speaking, God’s goodness extends further than his mercy. Mercy may be the ultimate expression of divine goodness, but it is not the only expression. God shows mercy to some, but his goodness extends to all.

So, what do we mean by God’s goodness? Divine goodness is the overflowing bounty of God by which he communicates blessing to his creation and to his creatures. God’s goodness is the opposite of harshness and cruelty. To experience divine goodness is to enjoy the sweetness, friendliness, benevolence, and generosity of God.

Goodness is the broader category encompassing several of God’s moral attributes. His goodness toward those in misery we call mercy. His goodness to forebear with those deserving judgment we call patience. And his goodness to those who are guilty we call grace.

Three Aspects of God’s Goodness

Theologians speak of God’s goodness as necessary, voluntary, and communicative.

God’s goodness is necessary in that God cannot be other than completely, perfectly, and unalterably good. Goodness is what God does, but it is also who he is. Good and upright is the LORD (Ps. 25:8). Good are you LORD, and you do good (Ps. 119:68). Jesus told the rich young man, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). Of course, Jesus didn’t mean that human beings are incapable of doing good things or possessing relative goodness. Jesus meant that only God in himself is originally, infinitely, and immutably good. God is good in the highest degree. His goodness can never increase nor decrease. He is all good and unmixedly good. He is like the sun—all light in whom there is no darkness. That’s what we mean when we say God is necessarily good.

God’s goodness is also voluntary. This may seem to contradict the previous point, but it does not. God’s eternal and intrinsic goodness is necessary, but his will to make known this goodness to others is voluntary. In other words, it was necessary that whatever God would create would be good, but it was not necessary that God create in the first place. As Stephen Charnock puts it in The Existence and Attributes of God, “God is necessarily good in his nature, but free in his communications of it.” God did not have to go outside of himself to be good, nor did he have to create the universe in order to be conscious of his own Trinitarian goodness. The fact that God willed to display divine goodness is a further expression of that goodness.

This leads to the third point: God’s goodness is communicative. Whatever good we have or whatever good we enjoy is because God has willed for his goodness to be known and enjoyed. Every good and perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights (James 1:17). Food is good, marriage is good, friendship is good, health is good, peace is good, prosperity is good, work is good, recreation is good, rest is good—because God is good. He is a benevolent Creator, making his sun rise on the evil and on the good, sending rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. 5:45). Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, every excellent thing is owing to the overflowing goodness of God (Phil 4:8). God communicates his goodness not with miserliness, but with great delight. God loves to make his goodness known. The supply of his goodness is inexhaustible, and the sharing of it knows no end.

Three Areas Where God Displays His Goodness

If the nature of God’s goodness is threefold, so is the manifestation of his goodness. We see the display of God’s goodness chiefly in three areas: in creation, in providence, and in redemption.

First, we see God’s goodness in creation.

Think of the constant refrain throughout the creation week: “And God saw that it was good.” We come to the climax of the sixth day, with the events of Genesis 2 already having taken place—with the creation of the man, and then the creation of the woman, fit for the man—and then we read: “God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31).

Read More
Related Posts: