Photo by Olivier Guillar
Contemporary Christian artist Worship leader Cody Carnes started his career in 2009. He released two albums and one EP, including:
- The Lighter Side (EP, 2009)
- All He Says I Am (EP, 2014)
- The Darker the Night The Brighter the Morning (2017)
- Run To The Father (2020)
He took part in a GMA Dove Award last year for Elevation Worship’s The Blessing (Live) for Worship Recorded Song of the Year. He was one of its writers.
Check out my reviews of Christ Be Magnified, Run to the Father and The Cross Has the Final Word.
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?
The entire song is about Cody Carnes apologizing to God for not putting Him first. He longs to return to his fervency when he first believed in Jesus, where he was sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s presence and leading.
Side Note: For those sensitive to massive repetition, Bridge repeats the same three lines 6 times with very little variation.
Score: 10/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
This song aligns with God’s inspired Word.
Lyrics posted with permission.*
[Chorus]
I’m caught up in Your presence
I just want to sit here at Your feet
I’m caught up in this holy moment
I never want to leave
That is, Carnes is immersed in God’s Presence, sensitive to experiencing the Holy Spirit who lives in him (Acts 6:5, Romans 8:9-11, 1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:16-19, Galatians 4:6, Ephesians 5:18, and 2 Timothy 1:14).
Oh, I’m not here for blessings
Jesus, You don’t owe me anything
More than anything that You can do
I just want You
To Carnes, everything else is rubbish compared to knowing Jesus (Philippians 3:8-10).
[Verse 1]
I’m sorry when I’ve just gone through the motions
I’m sorry when I just sang another song
Carnes apologizes for drifting away from Christ, singing for the sake of singing and not to worship.
Take me back to where we started
I open up my heart to You
Carnes desires his former zeal for Jesus, asking God for assistance, in obedience to Romans 12:11.
[Verse 2]
I’m sorry when I’ve come with my agenda
I’m sorry when I forgot that You’re enough
Carnes is sorry that he acted in a manner inconsistent with God’s leading.
Take me back to where we started
I open up my heart to You
Repeats Verse 1, lines 3 and 4.
[Bridge]
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else
Nothing else will do
An elongated version of Chorus, line 8.
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else
Nothing else will do
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else
Nothing else will do
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else, Jesus
Nothing else will do
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else
Nothing else will do
I just want You
Nothing else, nothing else, Jesus
Nothing else will do
Essentially repeats lines 1-3, occasionally adding “Jesus” to emphasize who “You” is.
[Spontaneous]
I’m coming back to where we started
The present participle version of Verse 1, line 3.
I’m coming back to where we started
Repeats line 1.
When I first felt Your love
That is, back to where Carnes started. See Verse 1, line 3.
You’re all that matters, Jesus
You’re all that matters
I’m coming back to what really matters
Just Your heart
I just want to bless Your heart, Jesus
See commentary on Chorus, lines 5-8.
Score: 10/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
Unbelievers will likely arrive at similar conclusions as my assessment in section 1. It’s obviously Christian since Carnes talks about Jesus and His Presence. Carnes is clear in his communication and chooses words that unbelievers will easily comprehend.
Score: 10/10
4. What does this song glorify?
This song glorifies Jesus as Carnes’ chief focus and love.
Score: 10/10
Closing Comments
Cody Carnes’ Nothing Else is a great song. It serves as a great reminder to remove distractions that keep us from following Jesus’ lead, bringing Him glory. Unbelievers should have little to no problem understanding it.
I highly recommend it for corporate worship.
Final Score: 10/10
Artist Info
Track: Nothing Else (listen to the song)
Artist: Cody Carnes
Album: Run To The Father (Deluxe)
Genre: Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Release Year: 2020
Duration: 6:34
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
*Copyright © 2019 Writers Roof Publishing (BMI) Every Square Inch (SESAC) Capitol CMG Paragon (BMI) Capitol CMG Amplifier (SESAC) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.
11/12/2021 – Removed a link to lyrics that has nothing to do with this song.
11/02/2021 – Added an EP to Carnes’ release list.
03/23/2021 – Updated per repetition announcement. My original score for the entire song was a 10, despite section 1 having a 9 score! After updating section 1’s score, along with moving my commentary as a side note, I left the “10” rating.
Comments
Elijah
Concerning the chorus: Loving God’s presence is good, but this seems a little bit like gnosticism lite™ to me. This seems to glorify special experience and knowledge, as well as separate a “good spiritual world” from a “bad earthly world” that we live in throughout the week. It seems to call the worshipper to leave “the bad earthly world” and enter the “Good spiritual world.” This is (at least in part) gnosticism, possibly the oldest and most pernicious Christian heresy. The world is God’s creation he intends to restore (Romans 8:18-24; Revelation 21:1-7). God calls us to live in his glorious presence in our day to day lives with other people who are also made in God’s image. I’m worried this song gives gnostic vibes and drives us away from where God has called us. It also seems to lower the importance of our daily life. It uses words like “holy moment” that make me feel this is a means of escape. I could be over interpreting this. It is good to love God’s presence, love his word, listen to his word, delight in prayer, join in worship with our brothers and sisters, etc. The tone of this song seems to line up with a general gnostic tendency of other worship songs that are becoming popular in our current day. This similarity may have me seeing gnostic claims where none are truly present. I’d still encourage someone to pray over and consider this before choosing to lead it in worship)
Vince Wright
Elijah,
Thank you for your comments!
I don’t see that in Chorus at all. Primarily, because the word “want” is present. Carnes expresses his desire to remain with God (the “Good spiritual world” that you describe), and don’t we all want that? It sounds a bit like heaven! Carnes isn’t calling us to it, he is merely expressing what he wants. He experiences God and doesn’t the experience to end. I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting that.
As for the “Holy moment”, I think Carnes is admitting that he is experiencing God at the present moment and implies that his experiencing God as strongly as he is will fade once the moment ends.
I can see why you might believe that it teaches Gnosticism somewhat. I don’t think wanting to experience God is wrong, but it enters into Gnostic teachings when songs favor experience over Scripture and doctrine. In my reviews, I’ve been lenient because wanting to experience God is Biblical! I don’t get the sense that Carnes expresses that physical existence is inherently evil, a hallmark of Gnostic thinking.
-Vince Wright
Elijah
I agree that wanting to experience God is natural and good. I still get kind of weird vibes from this song though. Maybe another aspect is that the song seems almost entirely self-focused. The song has no mention of the gospel, God’s work, or characteristics. The song is mostly self focused and seems to be idolizing experience at points (despite claiming we’re not here for blessings). It repeatedly says, “I just want you” but never says anything of substance about “you” and spends most of the content of the song obsessing over one’s own failures. While confession and looking at one’s shortcomings is incredibly valuable, including in a corporate setting, ignoring what God has done on the cross to pay for those sins makes this song pretty poor in my book. The most it says about God is that we have special experiences when we are with him (which is really about us again). I still see the chorus as rather gnostic as well. Maybe I’m forcing the gnosticism into the text though, I agree it doesn’t have to be read that way, but it certainly *feels* like a sort of gnostic escapism.
Louise Rivoire
I am uneasy about this song being used for corporate praise and worship. It bothers me to sing to God confessing things that aren’t true. It’s so full of “I” and “me”. It doesn’t draw a person with scripture it taps into emotions. It may be a good song for personal time, but not corporate.
Lynn Sigler
But, I don’t want your blessings ??
I get that it means, I am not coming to you only you be blessed. But we all should long for God’s blessings!
Andrew
Exactly, I don’t get this line at all. We constantly pray blessing in God’s people, I think I know what they were trying to say, but somehow managed to miss the point.
A congregational worship song should not need a back story to make it relevant, so on that basis this is a great song, but not for congregational worship.
Peyton
I wrestled with that lyric for a while too.
The conclusion I came to, is that we want the blesser more than the blessings.
Not that blessings, or even wanting blessings is bad. But we want Jesus and who He is more than the blessings that come from His hand.
That’s where I came to rest on it.
At times I’ve read more into it, and shied away from the song, but eventually I would come back to it with a renewed lens of how I see God.
I think it’s a good song, that can be paired with other songs that specifically lift up God’s character, to aid the congregation in focus.
Juice
It’s I’m NOT here for blessings, not I don’t want your blessings. Are you guys for real? It doesn’t reject God’s blessings, but saying I’m not coming to God for blessings, I’m coming to God because I’m seeking God, and like Peyton says below, it’s seeking the blesser not the blessings.
Cesar Ivan Aleman
I agree, we need to really look close to the lyrics and what the author is saying. We seem to jump to conclusions quickly. The author is saying he wants Jesus because having Jesus is the greatest blessing. The author wants to have a closer relationship with God which is our total purpose in life and why we were created, to walk with God.
Judah Henry
To me, this song is incredibly man-centered, and does not align with scripture. In addition to the problematic blessings line, the next line is even more problematic; “more than anything that You can do.” See John 15:5: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” The Bible is clear–we can accomplish nothing without Christ. But this author thinks he can do more than Christ. Even when it come to love, we cannot out love God.
This is the kind of song I would sing to my spouse. It is a humanistic interpretation of the gospel and reflects a very confused understanding of our true relationship with the creator.