American Pop and Contemporary Christian artist Lenny LeBlanc started his career in 1975 with Pete Carr. He eventually pursued a solo career and gave his life to Christ in 1980, switching from secular to Christian music with his first Christian album, Say a Prayer.
He released three secular albums and seven Christian albums, including
You are viewing: Who Wrote Above All
- Lenny LeBlanc (1976)
- Midnight Light (1978)
- Breakthrough (1980)
- Say a Prayer (1983)
- Person to Person (1984)
- Prisoner of Love (1991)
- Pure Heart (1991)
- All My Dreams (1994)
- The Bridge (1996)
- Above All (1999)
His song Above All, co-written with Paul Baloche and covered by Michael W. Smith, won a Dove award in 2003 for Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Lenny-leblanc-above-all-lyrics.
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1. What message does the song communicate?
Jesus is higher than worldly government, worldly wisdom, and all creation. He is more precious than the totality of human riches; measureless in value. He was crucified and buried in a tomb for LeBlanc’s lawbreaking and thought of LeBlanc…above all? No. As I will explain in more detail in section 2, it is the will and glory of the Father that Jesus thought above all, not His sacrifice for wicked, undeserving sinners.
Score: 8/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
Almost all of it is Biblical except the last line of Stanzas 3, 6, 7, and 8. Jesus thought of the Father’s glory “above all”, not us.
This song does not contain a Verse/Chorus/Bridge structure. Therefore, I assigned stanzas to each paragraph.
[Stanza 1]
Line 1: That is, Jesus is King of kings (Deuteronomy 10:17, Psalm 136:3, Daniel 2:47, Matthew 28:18, 1 Timothy 6:15, Revelation 1:5, Revelation 17:14, and Revelation 19:16).
Line 2: That is, Jesus is sovereign over creation (Genesis 1:1, Deuteronomy 4:39, Deuteronomy 10:14, Joshua 2:11, Nehemiah 9:6, Psalm 29:10, Psalm 45:6, Psalm 50:7-15, Psalm 93:1-2, Psalm 115:3, Psalm 135:6, Isaiah 43:13, Isaiah 45:9-10, Isaiah 46:10, Lamentations 5:19, Daniel 4:35, Romans 9:19-21, Ephesians 1:11, Hebrews 1:8, James 4:15, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 20:11).
Line 3: That is, worldly wisdom. His ways are better than our ways (Isaiah 55:8-9).
Line 4: References the eternality of Christ (Deuteronomy 33:27, 1 Chronicles 16:34, Job 36:26, Psalm 48:14, Psalm 90:2-4, Psalm 102:12, Psalm 102:26-27, Proverbs 8:23, Isaiah 40:28, Isaiah 41:4, Habakkuk 1:12, John 17:5, Romans 1:20, 1 Corinthians 2:7, Ephesians 1:4, Hebrews 1:11-12, 1 Peter 1:20, 2 Peter 3:8, Revelation 1:8, Revelation 11:17, and Revelation 22:13).
[Stanza 2]
Line 1: See Stanza 1, line 1.
Line 2: See Stanza 1, line 2.
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Lines 3 and 4: All other worldly possessions are counted as loss compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8-10).
[Stanza 3]
Lines 1-5: Yes, Jesus’ payment for our lawbreaking (Isaiah 53:1-12, Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45, John 1:29, John 3:16, John 19:30, Acts 4:12, Acts 20:28, Romans 5:6-10, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Galatians 1:3-4, Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 2:14, 1 Timothy 2:6, Titus 2:14, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 9:15, Hebrews 9:22, Hebrews 9:26, 1 Peter 1:17-21, 1 Peter 2:24, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 1 John 1:7, 1 John 2:1-2, and Revelation 5:9) was an incredible sacrifice. He was indeed thinking of LeBlanc as He went through the process of bearing LeBlanc’s sins. He was also placed in a tomb, sealed with a stone (Matthew 27:57-61, Mark 15:42-46, Luke 23:50-56, and John 19:38-42).
The trouble is this last line, “above all”. While LeBlanc is grateful that Christ paid for his lawbreaking, he (as well as the rest of us) were not Jesus’ top priority. Yes, He left His throne and glory to die for us (Philippians 2:5-8); However, Jesus’ highest thoughts were to glorify the name of the Father (John 12:27-28). He came to do the will of the Father (Matthew 26:39-44, Mark 14:35-36, Luke 22:41-42, John 4:34, John 5:30, and John 6:38). The Apostle Paul also states that our redemption exists to glorify the Father (Ephesians 1:13-14). Therefore, Jesus thought of the Father and His glory “above all”, not us.
Perhaps if line 4’s “and thought of me” is replaced with “and thought of God”, it would improve; However, it would also lose its statement that Jesus thought of us during His crucifixion.
[Stanza 4]
Lines 1-4: Repeats Stanza 1.
[Stanza 5]
Lines 1-4: Repeats Stanza 2.
[Stanza 6]
Lines 1-5: Repeats Stanza 3.
[Stanza 7]
Lines 1-6: Repeats Stanza 3 with an added lead-in.
[Stanza 8]
Lines 1-3: Repeats Stanza 3, lines 3-5.
Score: 8/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers should arrive at similar conclusions as I. LeBlanc’s language is easy to comprehend, written in everyday language with an explicit reference to the cross, easing a Christian interpretation.
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My biggest concern is about LeBlanc’s error regarding Jesus’ thoughts, that unbelievers will think that they are more important than God. It has the potential to feed into “I am the most important thing” mentality that plagues our Western society.
Score: 7/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God that it declares Him above many things only veiled by stating that He thought of us “above all” rather than the Father’s Glory.
Score: 8/10
Closing Comments
Lenny LeBlanc’s Above All is a good song with an unfortunate error. It hails Christ as He who is above government, nationalities, creation, man’s understanding, and earthly treasure, bringing Him glory. He thought of us while dying for our sins; However, LeBlanc is incorrect that it was “above all”. Christ thought of the will and glory of the Father above all, not us. While those who do not yet know Jesus will easily comprehend LeBlanc’s overall message, his “above all” statement may add fuel to self-importance that ignores God’s will.
I find it difficult to recommend this song for corporate worship.
Final Score: 8/10
Artist Info
Track: Above All (Live) (listen to the song)
Artist: Lenny LeBlanc
Album: Above All (Live)
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 1999
Duration: 4:45
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
03/25/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement.
07/19/2020 – Updated wording in my commentary on Stanza 3 away from presumption of authorial intent. Thank you, Dave, for pointing this out!
Source: https://t-tees.com
Category: WHO
