Because He lives

Death's sting...Not gone now but when perishable puts on imperishable...then shall come to pass... 1Cor 15:54

     Late again.  Sometimes all I can see is my failure, inconsistency and dysfunction.  Then, I remember...God doesn't redeem me because I have it all together.  He redeems me because I'm a mess and the grandeur of my mess magnifies His love and redemption.  A redemption possible only because the grave didn't conquer Him.  I have had this hymn and blog post on my mind and heart since Good Friday.  That dark and broken day when the Godhead's heal was bruised, the day we call GOOD but looked like anything but good to the confused, fearful, motley crew of disciples and followers of Jesus.  Hope, future, everything they had banked on for the past 3 years was before them crushed...They had thought they knew so much, learned so much; they now knew nothing. What now?  How could they go on, do anything, keep living themselves when everything they thought they knew, their whole worldview and primary basis for existence - gone in a matter of hours.

     Have you ever felt that way?  Life was going along pretty well with its usual bumps, ups and downs but nothing earth-shattering, paradigm shifting, until... And then life would never be the same, and you weren't even sure how or when life could go on and what it could possibly look like if it did.
In fact, in the moments that bleed slowly by, you're not sure you want life to go on, for you to have to process all of this, figure out life again, life with a new and constant pain piercing you at every turn, taunting your every breath.  Why must life go on when hope is gone and pain seems to be your only constant friend.
    Thank GOD that is not the end of the story.  The grave.  Death. Hopelessness.  Despair. Brokenness.  Those are not the end of the story.  They don't define or transform history.  The power that raised JESUS form the dead, that very same POWER active and present to save, deliver, rebuild, give strength for the next breath - that defines and transforms history.  All that we are and all we can be and do swing on this pendulum -- Because He lives, I live.  I can live.   I can redefine my existence with this singular, unalterable HOPE.  Let it transform the dark and broken, the hidden places of despair.  He is the author of LIFE.
Because He Lives Lyrics
(Verse 1)
God sent his son
They called him Jesus
He came to love
Heal and forgive
He lived and died
To buy my pardon
An empty grave
Is there to prove
My Savior lives

(Chorus)
Because he lives
I can face tomorrow
Because he lives
All fear is gone
Because I know
He holds the future
And life is worth the living
Just because he lives

(Verse 2)
How sweet to hold
A newborn baby
And feel the pride
And joy he gives
But greater still
The calm assurance
This child can face
Uncertain days
Just Because he lives





(Verse 3)
And then one day
I'll cross the river
I'll fight life's final war with pain
And then as death
Gives way to victory
I'll see the lights
Of glory and
I'll know he lives

by Bill Gaither

Beautiful rendition of Because He Lives