“Don’t Think Jesus” by Morgan Wallen is a raw, confessional ballad that serves as both a deeply personal statement of faith and a public reckoning with his own transgressions. The song’s core meaning is a powerful exploration of grace versus judgment. It contrasts the harsh, shaming, and retributive judgment that humans (and he himself) would pass on a flawed person with the radical, unconditional, and merciful forgiveness that he believes Jesus offers.
Released on April 15, 2022, this was not just another track. It was Morgan Wallen’s first solo song following his infamous 2021 scandal. The song is an autobiographical narrative that follows a “boy” (Wallen) from his rise to fame, through a self-destructive fall, to a moment of hitting rock bottom. Ultimately, “Don’t Think Jesus” is Wallen’s personal testimony, an admission of his unworthiness, and a profound expression of gratitude for a second chance that he knows he didn’t earn.
The Unavoidable Context: A Scandal and a Statement
To understand “Don’t Think Jesus,” one must understand the moment it was released. In February 2021, at the height of his Dangerous album success, a video surfaced of Morgan Wallen using a racial slur. The fallout was immediate and catastrophic. He was suspended by his label, his music was pulled from radio playlists, and he became a pariah in the music industry.
For over a year, he remained musically silent (as a solo artist). Then, on Good Friday, 2022—the most solemn day in the Christian calendar, commemorating the crucifixion of Christ for the sins of the world—he released this song. The timing was not a coincidence. It was a deliberate, powerful statement.
This context transforms the song from a simple country-gospel tune into a public apology, a confession, and a direct response to the “cancel culture” he experienced. It was a song of resurrection, released on the weekend of resurrection. It was his first step back into the spotlight, and he did it not with a party anthem, but with his hands up in surrender, holding a hymn of repentance.
The Songwriters’ “Assignment”
Significantly, Morgan Wallen did not write “Don’t Think Jesus.” It was written by three of Nashville’s most acclaimed songwriters: Jessi Alexander, Chase McGill, and Mark Holman. The story of its creation, as told by the writers, adds a layer of destiny to the track.
Jessi Alexander has said the title “just fell out” one day while she was in her car. She was reflecting on her own flaws and the human tendency to be harsh and judgmental, and she had the thought, “I don’t think Jesus does it that way.”
The trio wrote the song and, according to interviews, immediately knew who it was for. It was written for Morgan Wallen. They felt it was a song that only he could sing, at that specific moment in his life. They saw it as a “God thing,” a song that was given to them to give to him. When Wallen heard it, he reportedly wept, saying it was a song that spoke to the deepest parts of his flaws and his faith. He felt it was a song he needed to sing.
Verse 1: The Boy, The Guitar, and The Judgment
The song opens with a classic, third-person narrative, “Boy gets a guitar and starts writin’ songs.” This is the quintessential country music origin story, a story of dreams. But the narrative immediately turns dark. The “boy” gets immediate fame and indulges in all the vices that come with it: “whiskey and women and gettin’ too stoned.”
This is a direct, autobiographical sketch of Wallen’s own public persona. He built his brand on rowdy, good-time, party-boy anthems. Here, he admits this persona was not just an act; it was his reality.
The verse ends with the first taste of judgment: “Hometown said, ‘I don’t think Jesus done it that way’.” This line is crucial. “Hometown” represents traditional values, his upbringing, his parents, and the church. It is the voice of human, religious judgment. It’s the voice of disappointment. It sets up the central conflict of the song: the “boy’s” sinful life versus the Christ-like standard he was raised to follow.
Verse 2: The Fall: “Chasin’ the Devil” in Nashville
The second verse details the “boy’s” descent. He “moves to city,” which is clearly Nashville, the heart of the country music machine. The lifestyle from Verse 1 accelerates. He “lives fast and goes hard.”
The most potent line is that he “starts chasin’ the devil through honky-tonk bars.” This is a brilliant metaphor. He isn’t being chased by the devil; he is actively chasing the devil. He is pursuing self-destruction. He is the agent of his own fall, seeking out temptation and sin in the very bars that made him famous.
During this fall, he is “ignorin’ the voices in his head that say” the same thing his hometown did. This time, the voice isn’t external; it’s his own conscience. He knew what he was doing was wrong. He heard his own inner “hometown” voice, and he drowned it out. This verse is a powerful admission of willful sin.
The Chorus: The Theological Heart of the Song
The chorus is the song’s entire thesis. It is one of the most powerful statements on grace in modern country music. Wallen abruptly switches from the third-person “boy” to the first-person “I,” taking full ownership.
He begins by articulating the human, “eye-for-an-eye” model of justice. “If I was Him (Jesus),” he sings, he would be vengeful. “I’d say, ‘To hell with you, ain’t no helpin’ you’.” This is the voice of human anger. This is what many people, in his mind, were saying to him during his scandal.
He continues this imagined self-judgment. He would “shame me,” “blame me,” and “make me pay for my mistakes.” This is the world’s system of justice: retributive, shaming, and punitive. It is a system of earned consequences, a system he fully admits he deserves to be a victim of.
Then, the song pivots on its most important line: “But I don’t think Jesus does it that way.” This is the entire point. He is contrasting the deserved, human, shaming judgment with the un-deserved, divine, merciful grace. He is stating that the God he believes in does not operate on the same “if/then” logic as humans. He believes in a God of radical, un-earned forgiveness. This chorus is his testimony, claiming that he is a recipient of a grace that he knows he did not, and could not, earn.
Verse 3: Rock Bottom and the Desperate Prayer
The third verse is the direct consequence of the second. The “boy” who chased the devil is now “all alone,” with “no one to turn to.” He has hit rock bottom. His friends are gone, the fame has turned sour, and he is left with nothing but his own mistakes. This is the prodigal son in the pig sty.
In this moment of total desperation, “He figures he’ll pray, ’cause what else could he do?” This is not the prayer of a righteous man. It is the last-ditch effort of a broken one. It is an admission that his prayer is not one of piety, but of absolute necessity.
He then has an incredibly honest and raw conversation with God: “I wish You would’ve woke me up an easier way.” This line is stunning in its authenticity. It’s not a “holy” or “reverent” prayer. It is a frustrated, human complaint. He is admitting that his public fall—the scandal—was his “wake-up call” from God. He is acknowledging that this painful, humiliating experience was necessary to save him, but he’s still human enough to wish it could have been easier.
But he immediately follows it with the song’s refrain, concluding that Jesus doesn’t do it the “easier way.” He has learned that true growth and redemption don’t come from comfort; they come from being broken down and rebuilt.
Verse 4: The Climax and “Throwing Stones”
The fourth verse is the climax of the entire song. This is where Wallen turns from his own confession to the behavior of the “world.”
“World likes to rear back and throw a few stones,” he sings. This is the song’s second major biblical allusion, and it is its most pointed. It is a direct reference to the story of the woman caught in adultery from the Gospel of John. In that story, the religious leaders (the “hometown”) are about to stone a woman for her sin, and Jesus stops them, saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Wallen is explicitly identifying himself with the sinner in that story and identifying the “world”—the media, the critics, the public, “cancel culture”—as the self-righteous crowd holding the stones. It is a powerful, daring, and controversial comparison.
The “boy’s” first, human reaction is to fight back: “So boy wants to throw a few stones of his own.” This is the voice from the chorus, the one that wants to say “To hell with you.” He is admitting his anger and his desire to lash out at his critics.
But then, the lesson he learned in Verse 3 and the chorus takes over. He stops himself. “But, Lord knows, I ain’t perfect and it ain’t my place.” This is the moment of true repentance and change. He realizes he cannot simultaneously ask for grace and participate in judgment. He cannot be the forgiven sinner and the stone-thrower at the same time. He must choose. He lays his own stones down.
He concludes by turning the song’s title into a new rule for his own life: “And I don’t think Jesus done it that way.” He is vowing to stop his own cycle of judgment and anger and to (try to) adopt the Christ-like model of forgiveness, not just for himself, but for others.
The Outro: The Master-Stroke Question
After the song’s emotional and narrative climax, Wallen ends with a simple, haunting outro that re-frames the entire song. He repeats the line, but this time as a question aimed directly at the listener, at the “hometown,” and at the “world”: “Are y’all sure that Jesus done it that way?”
This is the “mic drop” of the song. He has spent four verses confessing his own sins, admitting he did not do things the way Jesus would. Now, he turns that same question on his critics. He is asking the people who “threw stones” at him—the radio stations that pulled his music, the media that condemned him, the public that “canceled” him—if their actions were Christ-like.
He is asking, “Was your punitive, retributive shaming of me an act of grace, or was it the very same human, ‘If I was Him’ judgment that I, too, am guilty of?” It is a brilliant, sharp-edged, and defiant question. It is both a humble acknowledgment of his own sin and a powerful challenge to the self-righteousness of his accusers.
Conclusion: A Complicated, Perfect Confession
“Don’t Think Jesus” is one of the most significant, complex, and powerful country songs of the 21st century. It is not a simple “I’m sorry” song. It is a dense, theological, and autobiographical narrative.
It functions on three distinct levels simultaneously:
- A Personal Confession: A raw, unvarnished admission of Wallen’s own self-destruction, arrogance, and flaws.
- A Theological Statement: A clear and powerful sermon on the difference between human judgment and divine grace.
- A Cultural Rebuttal: A sharp, defiant challenge to “cancel culture” and the “stone-throwers” who he feels were all too happy to condemn him.
The song is the perfect “comeback” single. It is humble and defiant. It is a confession and an accusation. It owns his sin while simultaneously pointing out the sins of his critics. It is the song that allowed him to bridge the gap from his public fall to his unprecedented “comepreback,” forming the spiritual and narrative anchor for his record-breaking One Thing At A Time album.