To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain// Part 1
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.”
How much do you think about your own death? Such a question like this might turn you away from listening to me further; fair enough, death is not the most light-hearted topic to listen to. But it is important to think about, and pondering death is probably one of the most practical and beneficial things to do in life.
Disney recently released a movie called ‘Soul’, we watched it on Christmas day, it’s a movie all about death - now there is lots of weird new age philosophy and religion in it which I’m not so fond of, but the movie posed a good question, ‘what’s your purpose in life'?’ After watching it, I remember looking at its reviews, and one of them said something like this, “Bring back the day when I could sit down and enjoy a Disney movie and not be faced with my impending death.” Well, that made me laugh at the time, but it’s a common thought, these days people don’t want to be faced with their inevitable death, young people would much rather suppress the knowledge that one day we will die than dwell on it.
We live in a time where some people are terrified of death, a fleeting thought of the reality of death sends people into terror and panic. But what if I told you, that every day of our lives, we are preparing for our death. Christians, each day of their lives prepare to die, sound’s depressing and morbid right? Well, quite the opposite is true, when a Christian thinks deeply about their own death it can bring about a profound, lasting joy. A light-hearted activity can bring fleeting happiness, but a weighty activity has the potential of bringing lasting joy, thinking on death as a Christian is one of these activities. This is because Christians know, after death… Life. Christians know, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
But what does that mean? What does it mean ‘to live is Christ’? It is not some pious expression, for Paul knew his failures, but it means he follows Christ, he imitates Christ, He seeks Christ, He wants to know Christ, He wants to obey Christ, he wants to glorify Christ, Christ is his life. And in death; he gains Christ. All of the blessing and riches that God the Father has given to him in Christ, is waiting for him beyond the doorpost of death. The same is true for us, we should be living as Christ wants us to, and we should be seeking Christ in everything, all of our life should be affected by Christ. And surely he is waiting for his bride (the church) to come home to him, so that he can lavish her with all his beauty, love and blessings. To live is Christ, to die is gain.
I’ll do part 2 of this tomorrow, but for now let us live like Christ and rejoice in Christ for the eternal joy that awaits us.
