Every year, there are at least two or three songs I hear that I get extremely excited about—songs that stay in my head and get frequent play on my iPod and computer. One of those songs recently has been Love & The Outcome’s “Heart Like You.” In fact, I like that song so much that I decided to spotlight it here.
I had heard a couple of Love & The Outcome’s songs on the radio, but was really introduced to them at Atlanta Fest 2014. If you’re unfamiliar with the song, here’s a YouTube video of it. You can listen as you read this post.
Here are the song’s lyrics:
Burn bright in my life
Burn away the things I hold tight
Give me eyes to see
Your kingdom the way You want it to be
What can be worth more than You?
What do I have I wouldn’t lose
If it means You and I look more alike?
That’s what I choose
I’d give up the world to find my soul
Pour out my life, give You control
I just want to be what You want me to be
I just want a heart that’s true
A heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
As Your ways take shape
All my guilt and shame start to fade
And Your love takes their place
I become a well of Your grace, Your grace
I’d give up the world to find my soul
Pour out my life, give You control
I just want to be what You want me to be
I just want a heart that’s true
A heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
I don’t mind the price it costs
I will count all I have as loss
When this fades away, what’s true remains
What can be worth more than You?
What do I have I wouldn’t lose?
I’d give up the world to find my soul
Pour out my life, give You control
I just want to be what You want me to be
I just want a heart that’s true
A heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
I just want a heart like You (a heart like You)
What captivates me about this song is that it is both a prayer for GOD to help the author to develop a heart like GOD’s and, yet, at the same time it expresses words that demonstrate GOD’s answer to that prayer. The lyrics are quite obviously taken from a number of Jesus’ teachings. Consider these examples:
8 Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they will see God.
(Matt. 5:8 NIV)
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
(Matt. 5:14-16 NIV)
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
(Matt. 13:16 NIV)
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.
(Matt. 13:44-46 NIV)
34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. 36 What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? 37 Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
(Mark 8:34-37 NIV)
Paul expressed similar thoughts with regard to becoming like Jesus:
If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
(Phil. 3:4b-11 NIV)
When we get down to the root of the matter, what GOD wants from (and for) us individually is to look like Jesus—to think as He thinks, speak as He speaks, and to behave as He behaves. This process of becoming like Jesus begins when we give GOD our heart so that He can mold and shape it after Jesus’. As we do this, we get off the throne of our heart and give Jesus that seat. The result is that we begin to change our behavior to match His, because we are seeking Him and His will by reading His word. It’s the most beautiful process in life under the sun.
GOD, give us a heart like You.
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