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.
- 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.
- 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
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
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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