Photo by Danka & Peter
United Pursuit has a fascinating origin story. It all started with a house purchase in 2006 at Knoxville, Tennessee, hoping to attract youth to win them for Christ through music. They released their first live album, EP, in 2008 and sixteen others within the last eleven years. Their 2015 release of Simple Gospel is the first to break the Billboard charts.
This requested review of Nothing I Hold Onto comes from their live album Live At the Banks House.
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Will-reagan-and-united-pursuit-nothing-i-hold-onto-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?
Leaning not on our own understanding, we give everything we have in surrender to God, trusting that He will make beautiful things out of us. The mountainous challenges of life test us and mold our character, enabling us to trust in God rather than ourselves. We tackle it through prayer and trusting in Him to guide us through it, hence the open hands stance that the artist takes.
Side Note: To those sensitive to massive repetition, almost the entire song is repetition of one sort or another.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
This song is 100% biblical.
[Verse]
Line 1: Utilizes Proverbs 3:5 in a more personal format.
Line 2: Communicates surrender to God (Isaiah 64:8, Matthew 10:38, Matthew 11:28-30, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34-38, Mark 10:28, Luke 9:23, Luke 14:27, John 15:1-11, Romans 6:13, Romans 12:1-2, Galatians 2:20, Philippians 2:5-8, Hebrews 11:6, James 4:7-10, and 1 Peter 5:6).
Lines 3-6: Repeats line 1.
[Chorus]
Line 1: See commentary in Verse, line 2.
Line 2: God is in the business of making people for honorable use from the same lump of clay used for common use (Psalm 103:13-14 and Romans 9:21).
[Bridge 1]
Line 1: It is through a stance of prayer that alows us to tackle life’s challenges that test our character and make us better people (John 15:1-10, Romans 5:6-8, Hebrews 12:4-11, and James 1:2-4). To hang onto the mountain on our own steam is to lean on our own understanding, which, as mentioned in Verse 1 line 1 by the artist, is something we are to avoid. Also, see commentary on Verse, line 2.
Lines 2-8: Repeats line 1.
[Bridge 2]
Line 1: The implication is that they hold onto God, as opposed to the cliff on the mountain. See commentary on Verse, line 2 and Bridge 1.
Lines 2-12: Repeats line 1.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Those who do not yet know Christ should find interpretation easy. The artist is clear in their communication and drill it into us with each refrain.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
It glorifies God through our own personal surrender.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
United Pursuit’s Nothing I Hold Onto is perhaps the quickest song I’ve reviewed, containing only six lines of content. These highly Biblical lines are easy for all to comprehend and bring glory to God.
It is hard for me to recommend a song that I find annoying, but I also understand that not everyone is bothered by repeating iterations. One could also consider cutting out 50-70% of the lyrics, opting for a quick hit in-between songs.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Nothing I Hold Onto (listen to the song)
Artist: United Pursuit
Album: Live at the Banks House
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2010
Duration: 6:16
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
03/26/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. I moved my commentary to a side note and updated sections 2 and Conclusion. I also increased the score for section 1, raising the overall rating from 9.5/10 to 10/10.
04/23/2020 – To keep things consistent, I updated the band’s name to “United Pursuit”.
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 sections 3 and 4, raising this review from 8.5/10 to 9.5/10.
Comments
Stefanie
Really? I love this song! It speaks to great depths of grief, and trusting God through loss. I feel like it expands on the scripture where Jesus says, “those who seek to save their lives will lose it, but those who lose their lives for my sake will find it.” or the other scripture where Jesus says, “anyone who would come after me must take up his cross daily.” I picture someone’s mother dying of cancer and the person tempted to feel like, “God, if you don’t save my mom I’m going to be mad at you forever.” And instead, they say, “There’s nothing (in this life) I hold on to.” I’m not going to hold onto anything in this life so strongly that it’s loss will cause me to leave God. I’m surrendering my grief to you, trusting that you’ll make something beautiful out of me.
It’s great to sing when you’re facing trials, and want to pour your heart out to God, and need to focus on God and God’s sovereignty and providence.
John Kirkpatrick
Stefanie, such a beautiful approach to a song that when I first heard it in our Worship Service, I thought it too repetitious, and wondered when it would get on with it. But singing it several times and then listening to United Pursuit’s performance of it… I started to understand the simplicity of it’s message. Thank you for your viewpoint on it.
Nick Lawrence
Although I can understand calling this lazy song writing, I do believe there can be something powerful to repeating such biblical and powerful words.
Vince Wright
Nick,
Thank you for your comment! I suppose it depends on if the Holy Spirit is in it. He can use repetition despite my commentary!
-Vince Wright
Ryan
I have mixed feelings about these type of songs. On one hand it is grounded in biblical truth and on the other hand these overly repetitive songs can have a tendency to make us get lost in our emotions rather than focusing on God. I also like you find songs that repeat a line so many times annoying and distracting to my worship.
Vince Wright
Ryan,
Thank you for your feedback! I’ve noticed a lot of people have various views on this topic. Yes, I’m a bit annoyed, and perhaps, in a worship setting, a worship leader will decide to reduce repetition. However, others also find it helpful for reinforcement. For example, when I learn things, I often learn it through repetition.
-Vince Wright