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A Promise Which Prompts Our Praise

I’ll Sing

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
  I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

My Jesus, I Love Thee
By: William Ralph Featherston (1848–1875)

Listen to this simple piano arrangement as you read.  Members, be sure to experience the worship-cultivating podcast below.

As we close out our look into how we love Jesus in different moments we consider the ones that will go on forever.  It is the last great “ever”, and like every now before it, this one will also be filled with our response of love to Jesus.  Tuesday we considered the place this will happen, (read that here) and today we consider the promise.  Let’s think about that.

I’ll Sing

In the previous stanza we committed to speak our love to Jesus as we came to and beyond the end of our life.  We find ourselves in this stanza breathing in the celestial air of our forever home and exhaling not in a speech but a song.  We will sing.  Oh, how we will sing!

When we finally find ourselves walking the hallways of those eternal mansions, realizing the fullness of our inheritance come to pass, we will sing as never before.  I have often remarked at how different our lung capacity will be in our glorified bodies, not to mention the fact that our musculature will be able to control that breath with much more efficiency.  All that joined with overwhelming desire to glorify our Lord which will consume our entire being will bring us to an utterance of praise beyond imaging.

If you have been on this journey with us for long, you know that our desire here at Resonant 7 is to remove the hindrances in our lives to our reverberating with God’s praise.  When we get to heaven every single thing that inhibited our praise in any way in this life will be gone.  We will unhindered be!

I am sure you are looking forward to that day, but I want to encourage you to consider what those first moments of praise will be like.  Imagine that scene as you are confronted with the awe-evoking presence of Jesus, when you can finally take a breath and then begin offering your adoration.  Ask the Spirit to help you render that in your mind.

Glittering Crown

Glittering Crown

As if the place and the presence of Jesus were not enough to stimulate your worship, imagine this.  Jesus walks over to you with a crown in His nail-pierced hands, a crown which has been prepared for you, not because you earned it but because you are a child of God through faith in Jesus.  As He draws near He lifts it up to gently place it on your head.

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.  2 Timothy 4:8 ESV

If you were not singing before, you must be by then.  But not only you.  Your voice echoes with all who have longed for His appearing.

Before we move on I want you to wrap your mind around one more reality.  Two stanzas before another brow is mentioned.  In that second stanza as we considered the sacrifice of our Lord, we declared our love for Him which was prompted by wearing a different crown on His brow, a crown of thorns.  Juxtapose that against the image created in this last stanza at you are left with a startling truth: you will wear a glittering crown because Jesus wore a thorny one.

Are you longing for His appearing?  That is the criteria mentioned in Timothy to be able to be awarded that crown.  Ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart and reveal how strong your longing is, then ask Him to make it even stronger.

If ever…it’s now!

My Jesus

From the first moments of our walk with Jesus, and then over time as we understood better what that even meant, we love Him.  We have already committed to speak in the previous stanza and then sing in this final one.  For me this alludes to a natural crescendo that is occurring as this hymn progresses.  I think it beautifully portrays what happens in the life of the believer.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 1 Peter 1:8 ESV

In those earliest moments, we are overwhelmed with love for Jesus, our Savior.  As we grow in that love, it matures through a deeper sense of His sacrifice.  This prompts us to commit to love Him while living, and even while dying which requires an even greater level of maturity.  Finally we come to a place of rest in the fact that our best love will likely be offered beyond this life.

Even as you long to offer your highest praise in that Day, commit to loving Jesus in every “now” until that one comes.  Across more than four stanzas, but whatever days remain ask the Spirit to help you declare with your lips and your life more and more each day, “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now!”

Jesus, I love You.  Even as I long to see You face-to-face, help me to believe in You and rejoice with a joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.  Even though I may fail to truly express it, since it is inexpressible, help me to try. In Jesus’ name.   Amen.

Joyful Thinking!

Are these thoughts helping you to develop greater spiritual awareness?  Sign-up in the form to the right above to get updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Below is content always available to Subscribers, sometimes to Free Members, but today to everyone.  Want to learn more about accessing all the additional material in the Subscriber Content Library, click here.  Or check out some other samples at our Free Member Content Library.  We have lots of tools and lots of options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today!!

Members and Subscribers enjoy this podcast! It features meditative music and moments to contemplate the Scriptures shared.  Everyone else the transcript below.

Podcast 9.4 Transcript

Welcome to Thursday Thoughts at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s think about this.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,

John 14:2 ESV

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Jesus is indeed preparing a place for us, a place of endless delight.  We often get caught up on the many roomed mansions, but simply being in His presence eternally will create a rest unlike we can even fathom now.  Take a moment and imagine what endless delight feels like.

  I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;

Revelation 21:23 ESV

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

He will be our light, and we will adore Him forever.  Does that mean that all that we will do is sing praises?  I don’t think so. We will have the light of His presence to praise Him, but it will also give us the illumination and inspiration to engage in every pursuit with an undivided purpose, to adore Him.  Think about that.

I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,

2 Timothy 4:8 ESV

Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

As I ever adore Jesus, no doubt some of that will be singing His praise.  No doubt some of our songs will be thanksgiving for placing a crown of righteousness on our brows, and that is only part of the award He has in store for us on that Day.  Give Him praise.

  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

1 Peter 1:8 ESV

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

We have not seen Him, yet we love Him.  Imagine how our love will expand when we finally lay our eyes on Jesus.  We will have loved Him in many different moments for many different reasons but surely we will love Him in those moments with an inexpressible and glorious joy.  Commit to do so now.  

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has come to your mind, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then I will read our text once more.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
  I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.

Image Attributions
I’ll Sing – https://pixabay.com/illustrations/women-face-reflecting-elegance-1003240/
Glittering Crown – https://pixabay.com/photos/crown-gold-royal-luxury-golden-2661334/
My Jesus – https://pixabay.com/photos/faith-love-hope-fog-forest-clouds-4045660/

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The Perfect Place for Perpetual Praise

Mansions of Glory

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
  I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

My Jesus, I Love Thee
By: William Ralph Featherston (1848–1875)

Listen to this simple piano arrangement as you read.  And make sure to check out the video log below which will guide you through a worshipful reflection of this stanza.

As we close out our look into different moments when we love Jesus we consider the ones that will go on forever.  It is the last great “ever”, and like every now before it, this one will also be filled with our response of love to Jesus.  We will consider two aspects: the place, and the promise, today looking into the place and some of what we will do there.  Let’s tune our hearts.

Mansions of Glory

We simply do not have the capacity to fathom the place Jesus has in store for us.  He spoke words that make sense.  He described things that we have a context to understand.  But they pointed to reality that surpasses what even our sanctified imagining can concur.

In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  John 14:2 ESV

We spend so much time thinking about the realities of this existence, and so little time setting our minds on things above.  When was the last time you just let your mind wander along the streets of gold?  It is our inheritance because of what Jesus has accomplished and is preparing for us.

There is a room for you.  Do you believe that?  Have you ever wondered what might be in that room?  What it may look like?  What is the view from your window?  It is a real place and one that is waiting for us.

Take a few moments and imagine what the mansions may look like.  Imagine what your room or rooms may look like.  Now thank Jesus for preparing that place for you.

Endless Delight

A cursory look at this line might lead one to believe that the the mansions of glory are reason for the endless delight.  But the saint knows better.  The endless delight is the supernatural consequence of the environment of heaven.

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”  Revelation 21:4 ESV 

That sounds like endless delight to me.  Obviously Jesus is the He described in that passage, and the One who makes all that possible through His sacrifice.  It also frames the context for our response to this atmosphere which affords endless delight even as it defines the last, great “ever” of the hymn.  Forever.

Ever

Ever Adore

We have considered several other “ever’s” as we have walked through the hymn.

  • The ever of salvation.
  • The ever when Jesus took me deeper into His sacrifice.
  • The ever of life and death,
  • And now this final one, on the other side of death, for-“ever”.

We have made the statement poetically, “if ever I love Thee, Jesus ’tis now.”  In this final one we acknowledge the enduring response we will offer.  “I’ll ever adore Thee”, or “I will adore You forever”.

We have confessed and committed to loving Jesus at the moment of salvation, when we went deeper in our understanding of His sacrifice, in life and death.  There are two ways to look at this last statement.

  1. It is an acknowledgment of what we will do.
  2. It is a commitment to what we will do.

It should be both simultaneously.  The first one alone is not enough.

Have you resolved and committed to that eternal adoration?  Doing so influences your ability to look forward to it because it informs your perspective.  Commit right now to adore Him forever.  Just say it, “I will adore You forever!”

Heaven So Bright

Heaven So Bright

And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Revelation 21:23 ESV

Here is another aspect of our eternal adoration that is hard for us to fathom, the enduring glory of God, in the form of eternal light.  No sun or moon, yet there is never an absence of light.  What will that be like?

In our modern minds this seems like no big deal because we have become accustomed to artificial light.  We have so much ambient light in the sky at night it effects our ability to see the stars clearly.  This makes me wonder how much more significant the truth of this Scripture may have been in the eyes of the ancients.

We have already established there will be no more pain, now we acknowledge there will be no darkness.  Indeed, the former things will have passed away and this new reality provides the scenario for and the impetus to our unending praise.   I can hardly wait.  How about you?

Keep coming back and we will work to assist you in making and practicing that commitment.   We will help you tune your heart to sing such praise by providing resources like this to help you love Jesus, and become Resonant, 7 days a week.

Eternal Tuning!

Jesus, thank You for preparing a place for me to offer my eternal adoration.  Not only the rooms themselves, but also the entire environment.  For these reasons, and so many more, I will adore You forever.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

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Below is content always available to Subscribers, and sometimes to Free Members, but to everyone here.  Want to learn more about accessing all the additional material in the Subscriber Content Library, click here, or the Free Member Content Library with some examples of the complete Subscribers content, click here.

Enjoy this video and the transcript below!

Video 9.4 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

In mansions of glory and endless delight,
  I’ll ever adore Thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Of course, our loving Jesus does not end in death.  Death is the beginning of the rest of our destiny for everyone who loves Jesus.  This stanza draws from Scripture and speaks of two realities of the beyond: a place to belong, and an inheritance to enjoy.  Ask the Spirit to show the wonder of both.

Forever.  That’s the other variation of ever we have not considered.  In bright heaven we will always adore Jesus. The “ever” in each of the last lines indicates different moments when we love Jesus.  This “ever” declares we will spend the balance of eternity loving Him. Are you ready for that? 

You get a crown.  You not only get to dwell in heaven, the very presence of God, eternally, but you get to do so with honor.  You go from death-dew to a crown on your brow in a moment, because Jesus wore the thorns on His. Thank Him for purchasing that privilege for you.

And the culmination of all the “nows” when we have or will ever love Jesus, find us doing the same.  Don’t wait until you get there. Determine to praise Him in every now He gives you, no matter the circumstances for He is worthy of all your praise, adoration, and love.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.

Image Attributions
Mansion – https://pixabay.com/photos/castle-hluboká-heaven-south-bohemia-852714/
Ever Adore – https://pixabay.com/photos/ascension-celestial-planet-heaven-1568162/
Heaven So Bright – https://pixabay.com/photos/clouds-landscape-beyond-sky-rays-2709662/

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Loving Through the Living, AND the Dying

And say

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

My Jesus, I Love Thee
By: William Ralph Featherston (1848–1875)

Listen to this simple piano arrangement as you read.  And be sure to experience the worship-cultivating podcast below.

Today we consider the “now” of those moments surrounding our death.  Maybe just before, maybe just after, but either way, we declare our intention and even expectation that we will continue to express our love to Jesus.  Let’s think about that.

And Say

The previous line was a declaration that as long as Jesus lends us breath we will use it to give Him praise.  This next line is the natural next step in that process, the moments when He no longer lends breath to our mortal body, and its existence ceases.  Having no breath to praise, the writer now affirms he will still somehow speak forth his undying love for Jesus.  That is an incredible confidence.  So let’s consider that.

When this life is over, the Scripture teaches there is much more.

In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.  2 Corinthians 5:8 (CSB)

When this physical body dies, the spiritual does not. We will live on past the expiration date of our earth suit.  You see, even when we no longer have the breath here, we will still be able to say to Jesus we love Him as we breath in the air on celestial shores.  When we are absent or away from our body, we will finally be at home with the Lord.

Thank Jesus that there is more than what our eyes can see and our ears can hear.  That even when life here ceases, there is much more to come.

Death Dew

Death Dew

Having established that we fully expect to be able to continue to tell Jesus we love Him even after we die, now let’s take a few moments to consider this very curious imagery of “death dew”.  Obviously it is a poetic rendering of the last throes of death, and the body itself growing cold along with the possible perspiration exerted in those last heated moments of battle with death.  Someone has referred to this phenomenon as a cold, clammy, waxy moisture left after a person goes through their death agony and dies.

From the air in our lungs to the sweat on our brow we are determined to keep the praise going, even after we die.  This is extraordinary imagery utilizing very ordinary things.

Having just evoked the awareness that our lended breath provides the means to give praise, the writer goes a step further in declaring our dependency on eternal life in God by squarely putting the possibility of our continuing to speak our adoration to Jesus upon it, even when the death dew goes cold on our forehead.  Otherwise, when the breath stops, so does our praise.

Stop and ponder that marvelous hope for a few moments.  Even when your breath runs out, your praise can continue.  Ask Jesus to drive that truth deep into your being, and commit to eternally let it take root and bear fruit.

If ever…it’s now!

Tis Now

Not only is there the confidence that we will be able to love Him through our death, but it is accompanied by the willingness to do so.  Many of the hymns deal plainly with the reality of death as a part of this age and our hope for life beyond it.  This stanza continues the crescendo of our affection which started with that moment of salvation, deepened with our growing understanding of Christ’s sacrifice, and now builds through our living and even past our dying, into an ever intensifying cacophony of delight.

We will leave this existence behind one day and enter into an experience of endless delight.  That is what the last stanza speaks about and we will press into that next week.  Before we go, linger in the “now” of these moments of living, loving Jesus, even as we draw daily closer to the love etched into our hearts and written in the skies.

Tell Him, “If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus ’tis now!”

Jesus, I love You.  I loved you in that moment when I yielded to Your redeeming grace.  I loved in all those moments You have taken me deeper into my understanding and appreciation of Your sacrifice.  I love you in these moments I am living with You now, and will continue to love You through my death and into what lies beyond.  Help me to live out that love today.  In Jesus’ name.   Amen.

Eternal Thinking!

Are these thoughts helping you to develop greater spiritual awareness?  Sign-up in the form to the right above to get updates of new tools to help you be Resonant.

Below is content always available to Subscribers, sometimes to Free Members, but today to everyone.  Want to learn more about accessing all the additional material in the Subscriber Content Library, click here.  Or check out some other samples at our Free Member Content Library.  We have lots of tools and lots of options designed to help you be Resonant!  Check them out today!!

Everyone enjoy this podcast! It features meditative music and moments to contemplate the Scriptures shared.

Podcast 9.3 Transcript

Welcome to Thursday Thoughts at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s think about this.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,

Philippians 1:21 ESV

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

We love Jesus is the different “now’s” of this life, and the one to come.  Our lives should be lived as one great offering of love to Jesus, one that continues on after this life.  Death will not bring an end to our praise, but rather the fulfillment of our hope in Him. Thank Him that even death will be gain for us in Christ.

  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;

Psalm 150:6 ESV

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!

If we are going to live for Christ then we should the breath He gives to offer praise.  We respond to the command in this Scripture and the commitment in this stanza to praise Jesus by determining to do just that, “Praise the Lord!”

And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,

Romans 14:8 ESV 

For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.

We live to the Lord, to give Him praise, and we die to the Lord as well, because we belong to Him, bought at a great price. We must all face death, but we can do so with the confidence that we will still be able to love Him even when this life is over.  Think about that.

  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 ESV

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We will still be able to praise Him, even when the death dew becomes cold on our brow, because He has given us victory over sin, death and the grave through His finished work on the cross.  GIve HIm thanks!

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has come to your mind, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then I will read our text once more.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

Take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.

Image Attributions
And Say – https://pixabay.com/photos/say-goodbye-old-man-man-away-2890801/
Death Dew – https://pixabay.com/illustrations/fairy-tale-portrait-night-girl-1081151/
Tis Now – https://pixabay.com/photos/heart-sky-clouds-blue-sky-love-1213475/

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Covenant Love

Wednesday Wanderings with Dr. Sherri is a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

Watch the Wednesday Wanderings Welcome for this week.

Now that we have cleared our minds of the clutter, we can wander on the journey of examining covenant love.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering we examined The Language of Love.  This week we will explore Covenant Love.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence where your covenant love can empower me. Illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you. Prepare my heart to focus my attention on loving you eternally.”

PROMISE: Love is a promise. Jesus demonstrated His Covenant to us when He offered His life on the cross. Out of  God’s love, He sacrificed the life of His only son. John 3:16  reads, “For God so (greatly) loved and dearly prized the world, that He (even) gave His (One and) only begotten son, so that whoever believes and trusts in Him (as Savior) shall not perish, but have eternal life.

This promise of eternal life gives us a reason to live the covenant of loving Jesus in life and death. 

PSALM: In the song My Jesus I love Thee William Ralph Featherstone shares his vow to live in love with Jesus.

Live in covenant love

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

The love of Jesus is an uncompromising, unconditional, unwavering, gracious, and redeeming covenant. Our sin may interfere with how we love Jesus but it does not interfere with how He loves us. At some point in the psalmist life, he realized that God sacrificed His son so that we could live graciously forgiven of our sin and live life IN Covenant love with Him. I wonder what prompted the psalmist to pledge his love to Jesus?

PARABLE: We are more prone to approach our love affair with Jesus as a contract opposed to a covenant. What is the difference between contractual love and covenant love? Contractual love says, “Because I did this for you, you should do this for me.” Covenant love says, “I will love even if you don’t. I will love especially when you won’t.”  If the love of Jesus was contractual, every time we sin, the contract would be voided. Instead Jesus died to offer us covenant love. What is the covenant love of Jesus and what does it do? 

  1. Covenant Love

    The Covenant Love of Jesus is inseparable. Romans 8:38.  It promises that NOTHING can separate us from the love of Jesus.

  2. The Covenant Love of Jesus is  immeasurable. Ephesians 3:18. Jesus pledges to love us beyond an identified width, length, height, or depth.
  3. The Covenant Love of Jesus is indisputable. 1 John 4:9-10. Jesus’ sacrificial life and death substantiates that God gave His son’s life to pay the debt of our sins.
  4. The Covenant Love of Jesus is everlasting. Jeremiah 31:3  It swears that His love has no expiration, is steeped with lovingkindness, and is faithful.
  5. The Covenant Love of Jesus empowers: Romans 8:37. It guarantees that in Christ we are more than conquerors of the guilt, shame, lies, and strongholds of sin.

Covenant love is not about us. Covenant love is all about Jesus who lived just to die for our sins. The lie of shame says “We are wrong.” The truth of God’s promises says “We did wrong” but the love of Jesus permits us to repent and be cleansed by His redemptive blood. We can live a life in covenant love with Jesus because His unconditional covenant love is patient, kind, does not count our wrong, and is enduring(1 Corinthians 13:4-8). Will you choose today to live a powerful, thriving, and lasting relationship with Jesus by choosing to live IN COVENANT LOVE?

PONDER and WANDER:

I Choose You

Ponder the question: Has my contractual view of love interfered with me living in the unconditional, gracious, redeeming, and saving covenant love of Jesus Christ?  

Perhaps you have not made a covenant vow to Jesus but rest assured, Jesus has already made a covenant to you. On the cross, He said, “I choose you!” and He will continue to choose you over and over.

If you choose, when you are ready, you may take a few minutes to repent of your sin and renew or establish your covenant with Jesus. Invite the Holy Spirit to use the prompts to guide you to declare your love. You may select which one(s) you would like to include in your vows of love and complete the sentence(s) with your promise.

Jesus I love you…
Jesus I choose you…

PRAYER: Jesus, with every breath you provide me, I will choose to love you without my hurts hindering my view of your Presence, without my sorrow sabotaging your joy, without holding on to my habits tighter than I cling to you. In life, in death, with every breath, I promise to love you. In the loving name of Jesus I pray, Amen.

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to offer Him your gratitude that He chose you. Let the work of your wandering fill you with the assurance that God loved YOU enough to give His son without hesitation.

Then take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

PERSONAL BONUS: If you would like, you may watch the below video and share an experience that helped me to make a love covenant to Jesus.

This video reveals the moment I touched The Stone of Unction, also known as the Stone of Anointing located in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (The Church of Resurrection) in Jerusalem. This limestone slab of love is where Jesus was laid to be prepared for burial after being removed from the crucifix (Matthew 27:57-60).

It was at this stone that I gained a new perspective of how Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection paid for the consequences of my sin and cancelled the terms of my contract. It was at the tomb where Jesus was buried and resurrected that my guilt and shame, especially of those from my sins of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and performance vanished. It was at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where I realized that though my sin (some of them I was too ashamed to share with anyone) is great, the love of Jesus is greater! Touching that stone where He laid, reframed the meaning of reckless and undeserving Covenant Love. I can relate to Featherstone’s pledge of love to Jesus. Touching this stone, my heart cried “If ever I loved thee my Jesus, tis now!”  Invite the Holy Spirit to search your mind and recall a time within your relationship with Jesus that prompted you to say, “If ever I loved Thee my Jesus, tis now.”

Image Attributions:
I choose you: Google Image
Live in love: Belovedwomen.org
Covenant love: Google images

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This is Literally a Matter of Life and Death

Life and Death

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

My Jesus, I Love Thee
By: William Ralph Featherston (1848–1875)

Listen to this simple piano arrangement as you read.  And make sure to check out the video log below which will guide you through a worshipful reflection of this stanza.

We continued our look into this timeless hymn last week considering Jesus’ demonstration of love through His death on Calvary.  You can find that post here.  This week we turn our attention to the “now” of our own death, and the living until then, determined to continue to love Jesus through them all.  Let’s tune our hearts.

A Matter of Life and Death

This third stanza gives us the opportunity to consider our response of love whether living or dying.  It is a beautiful expression of this verse.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21 ESV

To rephrase this commitment and simplify the stanza we could simply say “I’ll love Thee”.  But simplifying the words does not mean that actually doing the loving becomes simple.  It definitely makes it easier on two counts though.

  1. There is intentionality involved.  We can draw strength from the fact that we decided to love Jesus in response to His love, especially when doing so becomes challenging.
  2. There is commitment engaged.  We have told the One who loved us first that we are going to love Him as long as we live and even as we die.

Those are both very important because there are different seasons to everything.  Think about the image above.  I love Jesus differently when I am graduating to a nursing home than when I graduated from high school.  My own perspectives and life experience influence and inform my intention and commitment to love Jesus.

When Paul says to the church ay Philippi, that should he live he will do so for the glory of Christ, and should he die that will be for his gain.  That is a mature declaration that Paul was able to arrive at after some time of living in Christ.  It is one that every senior saint can say with a confidence the baby believer simply does not possess.

Whatever season you are living in today, old or young, weary or vigorous, happy or sad, etc.  determine to love Jesus in it.  Tell Him again right now you will, and ask Him for the ability to do so.

 

I Will Praise Thee

Praise Thee

The Scripture says it best.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6 ESV

Again the succinctness of the Scripture is so satisfying.  This is the command to which the commitment of the second line responds.

  • Command:  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
  • Response:  Yes I will, as long as the Lord gives me breath!

So where are you with your response?  Now be careful because this one seems so easy as well.  Notice it does not say, “And praise Thee as long as…

  • You give me what I want
  • Things are going my way
  • Life is easy
  • I am not suffering
  • Fill in the blank with your supposed first objection __________

It does say, “And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath.”  We are going to look into that poetic last phrase in a moment but first just consider what that implies.  As long as I am alive, I am going to praise You.  Not just obey, submit, serve, honor, etc., but praise.  All those other things are ways to praise, but can fall short if not offered with the right heart.  The heart that says to Jesus…

Worthy of every song we could ever sing
Worthy of all the praise we could ever bring
Worthy of every breath we could ever breathe
We live for you.  From Build My Life by Housefires

We live for you.  Maybe take a few minutes and just play that video and make that commitment.  Either way, tell him again today, “I will live for You!”

 

As Long As Thou Lendest Me Breath

 

Breath

Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.  Genesis 2:7 ESV 

The idea here is that from the first of us, Adam, to the last of us, we will only live as God, the Giver of all breath allows.  Because He is the Giver, and we are His creation, we should declare that commitment with the hymn writer,  “I will praise You as long as You give me breath.”

That is a powerful declaration, but it is followed up with an even more powerful which we will consider on Thursday.  I will even sing my love song to Jesus as I prepare to take my last breath.  Hope to see you back here as we think about that.

Be careful when considering using that breath to make a powerful statement this this stanza offers.  This is serious stuff.  Literally a matter of life and death.  But I hope you will sing this commitment which us in the video below and then everyday in some way.  We will help you tune your heart to sing such praise by providing resources like this to help you love Jesus, and become Resonant, 7 days a week.

Intentional Tuning!

Jesus, thank You for loving me and lending me the breath to live, and to praise You with that life.  Help me today to use this breath and the life it affords to love You and love others.  In Jesus name.  Amen.

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Enjoy this video and the transcript below!

Video 9.3 Transcript

Welcome to Tuesday Tunings at Resonant 7, where we reflect on the reality of God and resolve to let it resound in our lives, repeatedly. Let’s tune our hearts.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
  And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say when the death dew lies cold on my brow,
  If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In response to His love displayed on Calvary, we commit to love Him not only as long as we live, but even as we die.  He loved us this way, so loving Him in kind is the very least we can do. Ask Jesus to help you love Him, whether living or dying.

He is the source of life.  If you draw another breath, it is because He chose to lend the air to you and enable your lungs to take it in.  As you take your next breath, thank Jesus for it, and ask Him for the ability to praise Him every one you take.

I love how many hymns have no trouble addressing the reality of death.  This idea of moisture, possibly perspiration, on the forehead of someone facing death is an unusual visual, but suffice it to say, there is a resolve as to what will be on his lips even then.  Are you so resolved?

And here is our repeated refrain, growing in intensity through the stanzas, from that decision to first love, to love in response to the cross, and now even at death.  The words on the lips of the genuine worshipper at every circumstance of life, “Jesus, I love you.” Echo them now.

Take a few moments to talk to Jesus about what has surfaced in your heart, or just listen to what He is saying to you, then we will sing once more.

Sing

Take the awareness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes into the next ones and beyond.  Until next time, be Resonant.

Image Attributions
Life and Death – https://pixabay.com/vectors/adult-age-baby-child-death-human-2028245/
Praise Thee  – https://pixabay.com/photos/woman-happiness-sunrise-silhouette-570883/
Breath – https://pixabay.com/vectors/lungs-human-anatomy-bronchia-296392/

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