Because He Lives
During this recent Resurrection season, I’ve been reminded of 20 years past, when my dying mom planned her own memorial service. Out of the hundreds of sacred hymns she knew and could have chosen, she picked what I remember to be her favorite, “Because He Lives.” I can almost hear her playing her half-sized piano, while lifting her sweet, gentle, soprano voice of faith, singing this simple song of hope.
Mom’s was a tender but tough faith; one that was long nurtured by daily devotion and theological reflection. I have two of her books still in my possession today: A.W. Pink’s Profiting from the Word, and J.I. Packer’s magisterial work, Knowing God. Those who know these works will know that they are meat for the soul. They are classics for a reason. And they are what help to toughen tender faith like my mom’s.
Mom’s heart was fortified by hope as well. She looked for and longed for the face of Jesus. It means something that, at the end of her 80-year journey, after she had passed “through many dangers toils and snares,” raised six children, loved 40+ grandchildren, done missionary work for 20 years, been a pastor/missionary’s wife for decades, walked in daily faith and obedience for over 65 of her 80 years, and engaged courageously in a long battle with cancer, Because He Lives was her song of choice to mark her passing. Mom lived in hope. And in her passing, she knew that her hope was going to be realized.
When we turn to Because He Lives to find reason for Mom’s surpassing love of this song, we learn that because Christ lives, everything changes. Because Jesus lives, we “can face tomorrow,” and “all fear is gone”. (Full disclosure: it would be truer to say that because he lives all our fear will be gone, but we get the point). Further, because he lives, we can discover that life is “worth the living,” and that we can fight and win life’s “final war with pain” (see Because He Lives, by Bill and Gloria Gaither, 1969). No wonder Mom loved the song!
Fast forward from Mom’s 2005 passing to the spring of 2022, when it became my turn to hear the dreaded “c-word” spoken over me. With my particular form of aggressive cancer, and being just 63 when diagnosed, it’s become clear that I am likely to die quite a few years younger than my mom did. Unless God intervenes, I’m not going to come close to 80.
So it matters to me that not long into my own (still ongoing) personal and prolonged war with pain, disease, and possible death, an odd thing happened in the dark of the night. My wife, Gayline, was awakened to the sound of me singing in my sleep (I’ve often been heard preaching in my sleep; but singing was a first).
What is worth special note is that my middle-of-the-night-while-sleeping selection was a pretty clear rendition of “Because He Lives.” No doubt I sang it imperfectly and almost imperceptibly in places, which makes sense, given that I was singing while in a REM state, with no warm-up, and sans a handheld. But it still added new meaning to the fact that God sometimes gives “songs in the night” (Job 35:10). I have known that he gives songs in the night; I just hadn’t foreseen that he might give them while we are asleep.
Not to miss the moment, my quick-thinking wife turned on her cell phone and recorded me singing. She then played it for me the next morning. You can imagine the strange out of body type sensation that this created. There is an eeriness in hearing yourself singing while sleeping, without any recollection of it happening. But it is a happy thing when your song choice is perfect for the moment of life you’re in. Apparently, even in my sleep, my Savior reminded me that because he lives, everything was (and is) going to be alright.
As for me, I do not know how much time I have left. Nobody knows, except the One who holds the keys to life and death. What I do know is that because he lives, my present and my future are filled with hope and meaning—which turns Easter and every day thereafter into a song worth singing.
I share Mom’s faith that because Jesus lives manifold promises and hopes are true. To bolster this claim, let me expand.
Because Jesus lives, I know that my “Capital C” (Christ) will defeat my lower case “c” (cancer) (Rev. 21:4; Isa. 25:7–8).
Because he lives, I know that my labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Cor. 15:54–58).
Because he lives, I know I that I’m going to be raised from the dead (2 Cor. 5:10–14; Rom. 6:1–11).
Because he lives, I know what one of the truly most important things in life and witness is (1 Cor. 15:3–4).
Because he lives, I know that dying is gain (Phil. 1:21; 2 Cor. 5:6–8).
Because he lives, I know that I will rest from my labors (Rev. 14:13).
Because he lives, I know that I will sin no more (1 John 3:2).
Because he lives, I know that I will have a new and glorified body, just like his (Phil. 3:20–21).
Because he lives, I know that only One has the keys of life and death, and he alone has the right to use them (Rev. 1:17–18).
Because he lives, I know that I will see Mom (and Dad) again (1 Thess. 4:14–17).
Because he lives I know that I will meet my precious Lord face to face, and that I will be with my Redeemer-King forever and ever. Amen (1 Thess. 4:14–17; Phil. 1:21–23; 2 Cor. 5:6–9).
In short, because Jesus lives, everything matters. And because he lives, I will one day feel his warm embrace and hear his merciful “well done.” And so will all those of us who, like Mom, both believe and then stay faithful, all the way through to the very end, and then right on into eternity.
All this, just because he lives.