This request originally came to us under the name Misty Edwards. Though she is a writer for it, the original artist found for You Won’t Relent is Jesus Culture. Therefore, I will review it under this name.

I was quite pleased with Jesus Culture’s Rooftops when I reviewed it in late July 2018. I hope that this review goes just as smoothly as that one did.

Lyrics can be found at https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/jesusculture/youwontrelent.html.

Update: In light of this post, I dramatically altered this review, shifting the overall score from 5.5/10 to 8.5/10.

Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.

1. What message does the song communicate?

Describes God’s unrelenting love for us, desiring for our hearts to align with His will, and our invitation for God to set our hearts on fire for Him. The word “Jesus” at the end of the song helps us set the context.

There is a ton of repetition throughout these lyrics. Some might suggest that the Holy Spirit was moving and perhaps He was; However, it really annoys me to have the first part of stanza 1 repeated ten times and the first four lines of stanza 4 an additional six. It comes across as uncreative and boring.

Score: 8/10

2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?

Everything lines up with Scripture.

Since there is no formatting, I will refer to each paragraph as a stanza in numerical order.

[Stanza 1]

Lines 1 and 2: Summarized in Jesus’ greatest commandment in Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:30, as quoted from Deuteronomy 6:5. God’s desire for us is to seek Him with all our hearts (Psalm 119:2).

Lines 3-8 – Repeats lines 1 and 2 three times.

[Stanza 2]

Lines 1-6: A paraphrase of Songs of Solomon 8:6-7 as a pointer to God.

[Stanza 3]

See Stanza 1.

[Stanza 4]

Lines 1-4 – Repeats lines 1 and 2 twice, with a few “noises” that add nothing to its meaning. The parenthesis in line 1 quotes from Songs of Solomon 8:7.

Lines 5-8 – Repeats lines 1-4.

[Stanza 5]

Lines 1-4 – A derivative of Stanza 3.

[Stanza 6]

Lines 1 and 2: A desire for Jesus Culture to avoid talking about Jesus as if He does not exist, as if say with their hearts “there is no God!”. See Psalm 14:1 and Psalm 53:1.

Lines 3-4 – Though the apostles of Jesus could directly see Jesus, this line refers to our “mind’s eye”, an expressive yearning to see Jesus spiritually.

Lines 5-8 – Repeats lines 1-4.

[Stanza 7]

See Stanza 1.

[Stanza 8]

See Stanza 2.

[Stanza 9]

See commentary in Stanza 4.

[Stanza 10]

See Stanza 2.

[Stanza 11]

Line 1: A one-word description that sets the context of “You” for the entire song as Jesus.

[Stanza 12]

See Stanza 2.

[Stanza 13]

Lines 1 and 2 – Repeats the end of Stanza 2 combined with Stanza 11.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

I am torn. On the one hand, almost the entire song can easily be understood as a relationship with a woman rather than God. On the other hand, the word “Jesus” comes in at the end setting the context for God rather than the women; However, without other references within these lyrics to God, it makes it difficult for an unbeliever to associate this as a Christian song outside a church setting or additional research.

Score: 6/10

4. What does this song glorify?

Despite my annoyance of repetition and unbeliever’s probable misinterpretation, I have good reason to believe it glorifies Jesus.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Jesus Culture’s You won’t relent is a decent song. It agrees with Scripture and has a great message that glorifies Jesus, but is highly repetitive and perhaps difficult for unbelievers to follow.

In terms of church usage, I have no recommendation. It really depends on your congregation.

Score: 9/10

Artist Info

Track: You Won’t Relent (listen to the song)

Artist: Jesus Culture

Album: Your Love Never Fails (Live)

Genre: Rock

Release Year: 2010

Duration: 13:34

Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.

Updates:

03/27/2020 – Upon further reflection and prayer, I decided that repetition does not impact an unbeliever’s interpretation or the lyrics’ inherent glorification of God. Therefore, I changed my score in section 4, raising this review from 8.5/10 to 9/10.

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