Stumbling on the Road to Salvation

It's not always easy to wrap our heads or hearts around the concept of God's unconditional love and His willingness to help us carry our burdens. Sometimes music can help us better absorb those truths. That's the kind of music that Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Sarah Hart creates on a regular basis, writing songs for artists like Amy Grant, Matt Maher and Audrey Assad. But she also does the same thing on her own albums, including her latest Til the Song is Sung.

I've interviewed Hart many times on Christopher Closeup, and she's always a delightful and honest guest with a lot of wisdom to share. Our most recent conversation was no exception. Though she's grounded in her Catholic faith, she admits that she struggles with doubt and runs from God at times, a topic she addresses in the song "Constant."

Hart explained, "I am comforted by the knowledge that all of the saints that we know and uphold in the Catholic Church have been runners, and have found themselves, at times, reluctant. That's such a gift to us as Catholic Christians . . . If I stopped doubting and I stopped making mistakes and then coming back and asking God's forgiveness, it means '’m no longer in a relationship with Him. So I bless the doubting and the stumbling because it's all part of working on my salvation."

Scripture is one of Hart's greatest inspirations, both in terms of her spiritual life and her songwriting. The song "Good," for instance, issues a wake-up call about how long humanity has kept messing up, and how God keeps giving us another chance. Interestingly, a lot of atheists' arguments against God hinge on the idea that He's a vengeful bully in the Bible. Hart, meanwhile, points out how great God is throughout Scripture.

She said, "In all those circumstances where you see God's wrath in the Old Testament, you also see a God who, over and over again, loves. After the people are wandering in the desert, God says, 'I love you and you're starving. Let Me give you some manna, and I'll lead you to the Promised Land.' . . I always equate the Old Testament God with a father who puts his kids in timeout. [That] doesn't mean He's banished them forever. He puts them in timeout to learn a lesson and then goes into their room, puts them on his lap, gives them a hug and says, 'I really love you so much.'"

I pointed out to Hart that a Christopher-type theme runs through "Til the Song is Sung," because her lyrics promote an attitude of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness. She laughed and said that when she told her mother she was going to do an interview with The Christophers, her mom started singing our old 1950's theme song, "One Little Candle." Then, Hart agreed that the idea of that light appeals to her.

She said, "This is my ninth record, and I thought to myself, 'How long am I gonna do this?' I felt like God said to me, 'Sarah, you will do this till your song is sung.' . . . But the song's not sung yet, so I'll continue to do music and ministry and traveling until God says otherwise. I think that's the point of sharing the Gospel. Even when music stops for me, I will still be sharing the song because I'll be doing what you guys do: lighting one little candle and carrying the light of God as long as I live, until my song is completely sung."

This essay is this week's "Light One Candle" column, written by Tony Rossi, of The Christophers; it is one of a series of weekly columns that deal with a variety of topics and current events.

Background information:

Sarah Hart Music

The Christophers