Paul Baloche – Open the Eyes of My Heart

Contemporary Christian artist Paul Baloche began his career in 1989, serving three years as a worship pastor for Community Christian Fellowship Church in Lindale, Smith County, Texas for 26 years.  He left in 2015 to be closer to family.

Throughout his career, Baloche released sixteen live and studio albums, including:

• He is Faithful (1992)
• First Love (1998)
• Open the Eyes of My Heart (2000)
• God of Wonders (2001)
• Offering of Worship (2003)
• A Greater Song (2006)
• Our God Saves (2007)
• Live in Asia (2009)
• Glorious (2009)
• The Same Love (2012)
• Christmas Worship (live) (2013)
• Live (2014)
• Christmas Worship, Vol. 2 (2015)
• Your Mercy (2016)
• For Unto Us: Christmas Worship Live From London (2017)
• Behold Him (2020)

Baloche won a Dove Award for Inspiration Recorded Song of the Year for his work on A New Hallelujah.  Although he did not receive any award for Above All, Michael W. Smith’s cover won Inspirational Recorded Song of the Year in 2002.

Also, check out my reviews of Hosanna (Praise Is Rising) and Above All.

Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Paul-baloche-open-the-eyes-of-my-heart-lyrics.

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?

We ask God to release our spiritual eyes so that we can observe God in His full glory, praising and worshipping Him while His strength and lovingkindness surrounds us.  In response, we sing about God’s holiness.

Side Note: To those sensitive to massive repetition, the entire song consists of a Chorus, Verse, and an untitled section (Bridge?), which repeats several times.  Chorus repeats itself twice, which itself is two double-repeats.  Stanza 3 repeats three times.

Score: 10/10

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

This song is Biblical.

This song has no label for the section that comes right after “[Chorus] x2”.  Therefore, I called it Stanza 3.

[Chorus]

Line 1: Most likely references Ephesians 1:18, which is part of a larger prayer that Paul offers to his audience.

Line 2: Essentially repeats line 1.

Line 3: Much like Paul in Ephesians 1:18: Baloche gives one reason for his heart to be opened: the hope of His calling, that is, to have a personal relationship with God and see Him for who He is.  Baloche offers more rationale in Verse.

Line 4: Repeats line 3.

[Verse]

Lines 1-4: As mentioned in my commentary of Chorus, line 3, there are two other things that Baloche requests of God:

1. To see God worshipped in the fullness of His glory, referencing the transfiguration of Jesus (Matthew 17.1-9, Mark 9.2-9, Luke 9.28-36).
2. To receive God’s power and love as the church speaks of God’s holiness (more on that last part later).  Most likely, this references Ephesians 1:19.

[Stanza 3]

Line 1: The three-fold holy appears in Isaiah 6:3 and Revelation 4:8, meaning that God is “set apart” from the rest of us.

Lines 2 and 3: Repeats line 1.

Line 4: Repeats Chorus, line 3.

Score: 10/10

3. How would an outsider interpret the song?

This song contains a healthy mix of Christianese and everyday language, making it easy for unbelievers to interpret this song.  They should easily arrive at the same or similar conclusion as section 1, even if they choose not to receive it in their hearts.  Terms such as “Lord” and “holy” point them to Christianity.

Score: 10/10

4. What does this song glorify?

This song glorifies God by asking Him to help us see Him as He is, praising Him through the process.

Score: 10/10

Closing Comments

Paul Baloche’s Open the Eyes of My Heart is great.  Though its lyrics are simple to sing and remember, it expresses our heartfelt need to have our spiritual blinders opened so that we can see God for who He is, bringing Him glory.  Unbelievers should have little to no trouble interpreting this song.

I highly recommend it for corporate worship.

Final Score: 10/10

Artist Info

Track: Open the Eyes of My Heart (listen to the song)

Artist: Paul Baloche

Album: First Love

Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Release Year: 1998

Duration: 5:20

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

Updates:

03/09/2022 – Corrected Artist Info and removed side note in Introduction.  Thanks to FJ Fortner for inspiring this change!