Apostle Paul in the charts?

Have you ever tried to talk to your unbelieving friends about sin? They might bat you away with ‘But humans are innately good, aren’t they?’, or ‘What’s right for you doesn’t have to be right for me’. Well, David Kushner’s new song Daylight can help open up this conversation for you.

The 22-year-old American is relatively new to fame. It came quickly last year, after he released tracks that went viral on social media platform TikTok. Daylight, his newest release, has references to sin, God and forgiveness and yet somehow, at the time of writing, it’s sitting at number two in the UK charts and putting up a good fight for the top spot. How is this possible?

Upon first listening, I was surprised at how much the lyrics resonated. They discuss the familiar, frustrating struggle of trying to resist doing the wrong thing but being unable to. In just the opening verse, he mentions battling ‘lust’, and ‘pride’, saying, ‘I know I can’t resist’. Then the catchy chorus comes in:

Oh, I love it and I hate it at the same time
You and I drink poison from the same vine
Oh I love it and I hate it at the same time
Hidin’ all of our sins from the daylight.

If this reminds you of Paul’s cries in Romans 7:19: ‘For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do…’ – you’re not crazy. It turns out Kushner is a believer and had this very idea in mind while writing. In an interview with the Official UK Charts, he said: ‘It’s the most meaningful and personal song I’ve made to date. It has a lot of Biblical references, which I like to incorporate lyrically. It’s the most important thing to me, my faith. I had the idea of creating this song from a certain part of this Bible, from this disciple named Paul.’

He continued: ‘Paul talked a lot about evil forces in the world [and how to resist]. There’s light and darkness, and the darkness is essentially the worst version of ourselves. It’s a pretty universal [concept] but it’s super important to me.’

Reasons to celebrate

This gives us reason to celebrate on two counts. Firstly, how wonderful that those listening to the radio in the car, at a coffee shop or on Spotify at the moment will be exposed to the Christian worldview so powerfully? What an example of a Christian glorifying God just by enjoying Him and excelling in their craft.

Secondly, the song takes sin and makes it relevant to a generation that finds sin tricky to wrap its head around.

Why? Typically, Gen Z* are said to have less Biblical literacy, and so might lack the traditional Biblical framework for sin that others have. They are also morally confused. In a study conducted by the Barna Group, when asked ‘Is lying wrong?’ only 32% of Gen Z said yes, with others often saying again and again: ‘I’m not sure what to think’, ‘I just don’t know’, or ‘I don’t want to push what I believe on other people’. This moral relativism is tricky to navigate when sharing the gospel. As the report went on to say: ‘If a generation doesn’t think that moral and spiritual truth exists, then the gospel won’t make sense to them’.

Daylight makes sin exist to Gen Z. It allows them to connect personally with the feeling inside that all is not well, that we ourselves are bent towards wrongdoing, and are helpless in it. It says that we are the problem, and it says it in a way in which Gen Z can understand. It leaves them feeling that we need help – and more than that, it points to where help can be found:

Can you spare any mercy that you might find
If I’m down on my knees again?
Deep down, way down, Lord, I try
To follow your light, but it’s night time.

It shows them a God who wants to hear their cries, who they can come to in their sin and struggle, a God who won’t abandon or shame them for it.

This song is a wonderful platform to launch conversations about sin. It’s a springboard to move from what sin is, to what the gospel says – that in Jesus there is hope for the ongoing ‘war inside’. That we’ve ‘moved from a battle we cannot win, to a battle we cannot lose’ (Tim Keller).

Milla Ling-Davies manages en’s marketing and social media engagement.
*Generation Z are generally considered to be those born between 1997 and 2012.