Since World War II, thousands of songs have entered the public consciousness. Although much mainstream music is measured by sales and popularity, that doesn't mean those songs must soar up the charts to have value.

Popular songs are short slices of life and, because they may contain a bit of truth, are often useful for spiritual illustrations. Even tunes that contain untruths can help point us to the truth. So, instead of ignoring the subject and huddling out of the mainstream, we, like the apostle Paul, can discern it and make it a useful spiritual tool.

I began to compile a listing of songs from recent years and, when Tyndale House published my book, The Complete Book of Pop Music Wit & Wisdom, 200 songs from pop, rock ‘n roll, rhythm & blues, jazz and country were highlighted for devotional applications. Due to space limitations, two abbreviated examples follow here. The book goes into more detail on each song, covering lyrics, artist history and spiritual applications.

"Baby You're a Rich Man"-The Beatles

This Beatles tune gives a powerful illustration of money. A hit single from the summer of 1967, the song was included in the Magical Mystery Tour album. The fame of the Fab Four brought fabulous wealth to them and their manager, Brian Epstein. He took them on in 1961, when they were still playing dank Liverpool clubs and seedy Hamburg nightspots, and leveraged their local following into worldwide success.

Epstein suffered from bouts of deep depression, so the Beatles wrote a song to cheer him up. Using parts of two songs that Paul and John had created, "Baby You're A Rich Man" was born. The song opens with John's portion, originally titled "One of the Beautiful People," and then moves up a notch to Paul's "rich man" chorus. The song, unfortunately, did not cheer Epstein. Two months after the song was released, he was dead of a drug overdose.

The song asked how it felt to be one of the beautiful people. Epstein could have just about anything he wanted; except happiness. Fabulously wealthy and just as unhappy--it seems ironic. But Epstein is just one of many with the same story. Money really can't buy happiness, though we keep expecting it to. In fact, it's rather sad that the Beatles' attempt to cheer up their despondent friend took the form of this song, which merely reminded him how rich he was.

Article Page Break Here

Jesus asked, "How do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul in the process?" [Mark 8:36]. Worldly wealth is not the measure of true success. In fact, money often distracts people from their true purpose, a relationship with God. Jesus often talked about money, not really condemning it but warning against its power to control us. Money is a fine servant, but a bad master. "No one can serve two masters," Jesus said. ". . . You cannot serve both God and money" [Matthew 6:24]. Some Christians keep trying to prove him wrong, and usually their faith suffers damage.