The following is an actual conversation I had with a man today. He came into my office and requested to sing some songs he wrote in the next church service.
“Possibly,” I said. “I would like to read them first.”
“Read them?” he asked. “Why?”
“Just to see what they say, what they teach, what the content is.”
“Oh. Well, they don’t really have any content. They’re more like choruses — just one sentence sung over and over.”
“Ah.” Alarm bells are going off in my head. “If you don’t have any written down, give me an example of one of these sentences.”
“Well, my favorite is, ‘Resting on the bosom of Jesus.'”
“… Yeah… we’re probably not going to sing that.”
“Why not?”
“Do you know what a ‘bosom’ is?”
“Yes. It means ‘chest.'”
“Right. And while I know that the KJV sometimes uses ‘bosom’ to refer to men’s chests, the way the word is used today, it primarily refers to women’s chests.”
He looked at me blankly.
“You know,” I explained, “breasts.”
“But Jesus is a man. He doesn’t have breasts.”
“Right. And since that is what the word ‘bosom’ means in most people’s minds, we don’t want to sing about the bosom of Jesus. It’s confusing. But more than that, even if people understand that Jesus is a man and doesn’t have breasts, we would still be singing about resting on his chest, I don’t think this is a song most men want to sing. Most men do not want to sing about resting on the chest of Jesus. We don’t want to feel his breath on our cheek, we don’t want to sit on his lap, and we don’t want to rest our heads on his chest.”
“What about some of my other songs?”
“Tell you what,” I told him. “Write them all down and I’ll consider them.” And with that he left.
I’ve written about this before. I am not in favor of “Jesus is my boyfriend” songs. I am not sure why people keep writing these songs. I know most guys do not like singing them, and I’m pretty sure most girls don’t like it either.
Maybe I am wrong about this. Do you like singing love songs to Jesus?
Amen, Jeremy. I suspect one of the reasons for these sentiments is absence of a truly intimate relationship, which would result in more appropriate descriptions and metaphors. Easy-peasy to fall back on the love song template, as our culture uses these cliches to depict intimacy.
Good point, Steve, which I hadn’t thought of. In the lack of true intimacy, maybe these songs fill a void.
I wrote three songs when I was a praise band leader and they were not geared to women. And only one of them caught on and was well liked by our small group. I got so tired of those Jesus is my boyfriend songs.
Yes, and they are quite prevalent.
I don’t think I honestly can understand as a woman but I know how much comfort it brings my teenager boys to be held by their father. Please don’t just assume what brings you comfort is the same as every man. Because you may have an issue with showing that kind of intimacy please don’t rob others of that experience. May God give you wisdom re this and show you more insight in this matter. Blessings
Amen
Sounds like a good song to me but I’m not a Pharisee living in my mind and trying to be so technical. Let people worship GOd. They will understand what a bosom is.
Very nitpicky.
Hi if the world or the dictionary thinks its breasts and the bible refers to ot being chest who report are we going to believe or go with. Jesus report or mankind report . I sure am going to go by God report the world has manipulated and perverted what true unconditional pure righteous Holy Agape love is. I love resting on the bosom of Jesus being so close to him Embracing me and I would love to sit on Jesus lap like a child as we are his children and be hugged so pure. It’s the best loving and safest place to be. So I disagree with what your saying as I choose to believe and go with God report what it says in the bible and not what people think it means or the world think. May God bless you and give you a deeper understanding or Jesus pure un contaminated Holy pure clean righteous perfect love not what satan has corrupted our minds the believe or shall I say the worlds minds to believe. May God bless you
Hi Jeremy,
Thank you for the write up, and for asking that people leave their opinion. Perhaps you thought too deeply about the ‘Resting on the bosom of Jesus’. As a daughter of God theres’s nothing I want more than to rest in Jesus’ bosom because there’s no safer place to be. And this is without any connotation, because Titus 1:15 says to the pure all things are pure, but unto them that are defiled, nothing is pure. Even the son (Jesus) is said to be in the bosom of the father in John 1:18.
Jn 1:18
Jesus was in the bosom of the Father.
Sublime Intimacy
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
EDITION
Modern ClassicUpdatedClassic
Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God? — John 11:40
Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something which, from a commonsense standpoint, flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense. They stand in the relation of the natural to the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ when your common sense fails? Can you venture heroically on his words when the facts of your life shout, “It’s a lie”? Up on the mountaintop with God, it’s easy to say, “I believe God can do anything.” But you have to come down from the heights into the valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at your belief.
Every time my program of belief is clear to my own mind, I will come across something that contradicts it. Let me say to myself, “I believe God will meet all my needs,” then my provisions run dry; I have no idea how they’ll be replenished. Then let me see whether I will go through the trial of faith or whether I will sink back to a lower level.
Faith must be tested. It can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? Either the test will prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me” (Matthew 11:6). The supreme thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly in him, and all you come up against will strengthen and develop your faith. There’s continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death.
May God keep us in fighting shape! Faith is indescribable trust in God, trust which never dreams he will not stand by us.
On my flowery bosom,
Kept whole for Him alone,
There He reposed and slept;
And I cherished Him, and the waving
Of the cedars fanned Him.
VII.
As His hair floated in the breeze
That from the turret blew,
He struck me on the neck
With His gentle hand,
And all sensation left me.
VIII.
I continued in oblivion lost,
My head was resting on my love;
Lost to all things and myself,
And, amid the lilies forgotten,
Threw all my cares away.
______
St. John of the Cross, Dario Night of the Soul
___
AI generated:
The phrase “With his gentle hand he wounded my neck” comes from Saint John of the Cross’s mystical poem, The Dark Night of the Soul , describing a moment of intense spiritual experience. It symbolizes the way God’s divine presence can profoundly affect a person, suspending their senses and bringing them into a state of deep, loving union with Him, a process that involves a “wound of love” that leads to purification and enlightenment.
Explanation of the Imagery
“With his gentle hand”:
This implies God’s tender, not forceful, action in the soul.
“Wounded my neck”:
This is a metaphor for a powerful, transformative experience that leaves the soul deeply affected and unable to engage with the mundane world.
“Caused all my senses to be suspended”:
The intensity of the spiritual encounter overwhelms the individual’s physical and mental faculties, causing them to lose awareness of their surroundings.
“I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved”:
The experience results in complete surrender and a loss of self, as the soul forgets all worldly cares and rests in the Beloved (God).
The Meaning in Context
Spiritual Transformation:
The “wound” represents the powerful, sometimes painful, process of spiritual purification, where the soul is detached from worldly concerns to be filled with God’s love and grace.
Mystical Union:
The imagery conveys the experience of achieving mystical union with God, a state of intense spiritual connection that can feel like a sweet but overwhelming wound.
Dark Night of the Soul:
The poem is part of a larger work that describes the “dark night,” a period of spiritual struggle and emptiness that ultimately leads to deeper contemplation and union with God. The “wound” is a key part of this journey of purification and enlightenment.