"I Will Rise"

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." -Paul the Apostle, Philippians 1:21 (NKJV)

I just got to see Chris Tomlin live for the first time last weekend near Chicago. We also got to go to a small worship leader's gathering before the show. Wasn't quite what I expected, and I don't agree with every lyric or story I heard (which is pretty much the case with everyone when I compare their words to Scripture). But I do love his style and still hold to the fact that this guy's got some great stuff, so I had a good time worshiping along to the solid tunes.

One of the songs off the new album "Hello Love" which caught my attention pretty quick is called "I Will Rise." Before I even knew why the song was written, it didn't take me long to say, "I want that played at my funeral."

That statement might freak some people out. But since we are all destined to die, have no idea when the Lord will call us out of the race here on Earth, and I dream often about being in His presence, I think this sort of thing merits some consideration. I echo what John Piper says, that I have a vested interest in making my Lord Jesus look really good in life and when I die. I only pray that whenever and however He takes me, He'll use it to glorify Himself.

Check out the lyrics...

I Will Rise
by Chris Tomlin, Louie Giglio, Jesse Reeves, Matt Maher

Song lyrics | I Will Rise lyrics


Tomlin played this one at the concert, along with the side note that his grandfather just passed away, recently requesting Chris play it at his funeral. That was last Tuesday, and I hope he got through it.

Here's what Chris Tomlin has to say about the song:



I love that bridge too, and I know what He's saying, about that future hope of Glory and being forever in God's presence praising Him. But it's important to note that hope only comes in looking back to what Christ did in His death on the cross, dying for the sin of those who accept Him and rising again. I think the song communicates that fact, but I never want to assume my entire audience truly gets this vital concept, or that any of us can ever hear it enough.

This is eternal perspective. It looks forward and backward simultaneously. It is why we worship, why we will worship eternally and the only hope we have in this life or the next.

I should share that I attended four funerals in the first 2 weeks of this year, two of which I sang at, and some carried more hope than others depending in part upon how loudly the reality of the Gospel could be proclaimed through the life of the deceased. So again, I pray by God's grace that reality will be spoken and sung loud and clear whenever my time comes, even as I enter into the joy of my Master, worshiping in the presence of His Glory.

Worthy is the Lamb, indeed.

"For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." -2 Corinthians 5:1-9 (NKJV)