Can Secular Music Turn Our Hearts to Worship?
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Music does something to us. When we hear a song with a soaring melody, we naturally want to sing along, even if we don’t know the words. If we put on a driving or funky beat, even toddlers will start moving around. We can’t help but tap our feet.
As a songwriter myself, I’ve even studied the different elements of a “great song.” I can critique one and tell you about the craft, good or bad. However, great songs have something extra, a mystical element that moves us emotionally, physically, or spiritually. Such songs can actually break the rules of good songcraft and still be immensely popular.
For these reasons, the Bible encourages us to redeem music, using this gift from God to honor and worship him. It is good to do so.
At the same time, we might hear a “secular” song, one not written as a praise song, and feel similar emotions or connections. Are there times when a secular song can turn our hearts to worship?
The Purpose of Art
Art has a purpose. It stirs the heart, activates imagination, and invites people to a deeper reflection about life. Art does things that facts and arguments can’t. Art sparks the soul. Sermons can teach or persuade through clear declaration; art invites questions and participation. It opens the way for wonder, emotion, and personal engagement. Art tells stories, points out beauty, weeps, rejoices, and exposes truth. Not by force, but through inspiration.
We see art used in Scripture. The Song of Solomon uses poetic images to explore love, beauty, and commitment. Jesus spoke in parables, interspersed within his declarative teachings. Christ’s stories weren’t meant to preach in a traditional way but stir questions and seeking. Jesus said, “he who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:15), which invited people to dig deeper. These parables weren’t simple illustrations, the art from required someone to take special attention. They hid the truth from those not willing to look but revealed it for true seekers.
Art uses metaphor, mystery, and emotion to bypass defenses and speak to the deeper, unseen part of us. God created and uses art, and he calls us to do the same.
In Scripture, we see this distinction clearly. The Sermon on the Mount delivers direct commands and teachings from Jesus. In contrast, the Song of Solomon uses poetic imagery to explore love, longing, and beauty. Both have value, but they serve different purposes.
Art leans into metaphor, mystery, and emotion. It doesn’t shout; it often whispers. It bypasses defenses and speaks to something deeper within us. Art engages both the mind and the heart, submitting both to unseen truth and beauty. Things like stories and songs dignify the role of the hearer to experience and explore rather than just sit and hear a lecture.
Since art is a creative endeavor, art doesn’t inform but transforms, reflecting the goodness of the Creator. It reveals the unseen world, helps us feel what others feel, and calls us to see the world anew.
The One Story
Since we are made in the image of God, all good art reflects him, calling us to the one, redemptive story God’s telling in some way. An artist might do this knowingly or not, usually not, but it remains true. Even when an artist doesn’t do it on purpose, they often express a divine truth.
The One Story is the gospel, the Father’s epic and redemptive story stretching from creation to the ultimate new creation. It tells of a world broken by sin, and a loving Creator who stepped into the corruption to rescue and restore us. This story lies beneath all great art. All great art points to it, whether we put the label “Christian” on it or not. From tales of sacrifice, longing for home, the triumph of love, and good versus evil, the gospel gets expressed in some way.
Art often comes from mysterious places within the human soul. Many artists will say a song “came out of nowhere” or claim not to understand where certain ideas came from. This makes most artists mystics of one type or another, no matter their religious beliefs. They often believe in something greater than themselves, an unseen but real thing. We know it to be God, but artists through the centuries have expressed this “mystery.” Since the gospel targets the universal problems of sin, forgiveness, redemption, and longing for a perfect world, creative works naturally reflect these ideas, even if distorted or incomplete.
Great art explores the whole of human experience: hopes, fears, flaws, desires. Secular songs about heartbreak, beauty, justice, or wonder will cry out for redemption and purpose. We universally want healing and hope, the cry behind much art, and these songs give a snapshot of the process, the universal longings in a specific moment in time.
The gospel is the story all creation groans and wants us to tell (Romans 8:22-23). When art moves us in one way or another, it’s tapped into that greater reality. A poem might ache for love, or a song weep for betrayal, or a movie celebrate a willing sacrifice for others. These point to the Person who is love and made the ultimate sacrifice, the Person who will one day set all wrong to right again.
In this sense, we can see how secular songs can lead us to worship. Perhaps not in the religious or congregational praise and worship system model, but in ways of celebrating truth and pointing to Jesus.
Revealing Common Grace
Common grace is God’s kindness freely given to all people, regardless of their faith. Biblically, we use the term with the blessings and good things God gives to all humanity in general: sunlight, rain, beauty, creativity, love, wisdom, and more. Common grace doesn’t save anyone but reveals God’s goodness and love to all people, giving us glimpses of his character to the world.
Even when a song doesn’t mention God, it can express truth, beauty, or other ways to show God’s goodness. A protest song can cry for justice, echoing the heart of God who hates oppression. A song of grief can show the pain of loss and hope for healing. These themes resonate with us because they reflect the world as God once made it, the goodness that remains from his compassion, and the way we long for it to be once more. Even through a secular song, God’s common grace can soften hearts, awaken deeper longings, and reveal the Creator of all things.
The apostle Paul famously quotes pagan poetry in Acts 17:28 to make his point about the Creator over all. “For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; even as some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’” These were lines from Stoic poems to show the universal truths of the Word of God; Paul used them as a bridge to biblical truth.
As a great modern example, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong invites us to stop or slow down to notice the common beauty around us: trees of green, skies of blue, and the wonder of human connection. These common gifts point us to God’s grace, blessings he gives freely to all. Despite the Fall, creation still reflects God’s goodness, and the Father’s love shines through everyday moments, calling us to be thankful.
While not technically sacred, God can still use these sacred songs, revealing God’s hand behind the scenes of all goodness and true longing.
Celebrating Love and Relationships
Longing for love and intimacy reveal God’s design and desire for his people. From the beginning, the Bible presents love and marriage as sacred things. In Genesis, God creates Eve for Adam, stating that it’s not good for man to be alone. All this is done before their sin and the Fall. Their marriage reveals how divine love can be seen in human love.
Throughout the Old Testament, God uses the image of marriage to describe his relationship with Israel. The Lord declares himself a faithful husband, even if and when his people are unfaithful. Prophets like Hosea reveal God’s covenant love, showing his love and commitment despite Israel’s waywardness. The Song of Solomon expresses romantic love with beauty, delight, and passion. These themes reveal God’s heart.
In the New Testament, Paul continues with this metaphor. He describes marriage as a reflection of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5). Christ loves and sacrifice for the good of his Bride. Marriage is about more than companionship; it’s a living parable of saving love. This shows us why love songs about longing and faithfulness can be so popular, even if imperfect and misdirected at times. Our desire for human connection comes from the need to be connected with God.
“Roxanne” by the Police echoes the story of Hosea, who loved and pursued his former prostitute wife, just as the Police invite Roxanne to leave her life behind. In contrast, “From this Moment” by Shania Twain expresses another biblical longing for marriage, a covenant mirroring Genesis 2:24 with joy and commitment.
When we hear a song about faithful love, reconciliation, or longing, it can remind us of the God who loves us with faithfulness, reminding us how God created us for intimacy with each other and God.
Revealing a Need for a Savior
Secular songs also reveal the need for a Savior, even when they don’t mention God. Many lyrics have themes of heartache, loss, separation, loneliness, and personal failure. These express a world in pain and sorrow, people who know something is wrong but can’t always explain why. They cry out for healing, justice, love, and peace – things only Jesus can provide.
It’s rare for a secular song to mention Jesus as Savior, although it happens every now and then. It’s far more common for a singer to express the problem and seek an answer. Or the answer they give won’t really help, like “believe in yourself” or “live your truth.” First, while we can relate to the pain of living in a broken world, we can also be thankful we have the answer in Christ.
Second, the artist may not properly point people to the Savior, but we can recognize the human longing within the song for something greater, more meaningful. When an artist sings about loneliness or betrayal, they reveal our heart’s deep wounds. When a song talks about emptiness or disillusionment, we relate to how the world’s promises always fall short. Songs that look for identity or purpose express our need to be valued and loved. It all points to the gospel. No amount of success, love, or escapism can fix it. We need more than therapy or distraction. We need a Savior.
Christ is the answer to the ache these songs describe. He took our pain and sin at the cross, offering something real: healing and redemption. He can restore what’s been lost and gives us meaning during struggle. Jesus came to reconcile, offering us forgiveness and new life.
Secular music often gives space to the brokenness people feel but can’t explain, which increases frustration and hopelessness. We can relate to the raw honesty, admitting the pain, and pray for the Spirit to work, to draw upon hearts for a real answer. These songs make people more aware of their need for something more, a Savior who can heal and redeem. That’s Jesus.
Much modern music calls people to celebrate the wrong things, sin and pleasing the self. As Christians, we don’t need to listen to popular secular music, especially the songs which worship the wrong path. At the same time, we don’t need to give it all a blanket rejection, either. May we use discernment by the Spirit to affirm what is good within it while always using art to point to the gospel.
Peace.
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