by Kevin Burton
When people think of you, what comes first to their mind? Or asked another way, what should go into the first paragraph of your obituary?
I’m asking these questions today in the context of devotion to Christ, and Phil. 1:21 where the Apostle Paul writes “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
It can be dangerous to pluck one verse from a passage and make it stand on its own. But if you read that chapter, verse 21 is an excellent summation of Paul’s life and motivations.
It’s also dangerous to compare oneself to Paul. I’m guessing that very few people even come close to living up to his standard.
But can we not at least move in that direction? Boil it all down to one paragraph, and what’s it all about? What are you all about?
“The importance of the phrase ‘to live is Christ’ cannot be overstated. In all honesty, this phrase should be central to every Christian’s life,’” reads a passage on the website www.gotquestions.org.
“In this statement, the apostle Paul is saying that everything he has tried to be, everything he is, and everything he looked forward to being pointed to Christ. From the time of Paul’s conversion until his martyrdom, every move he made was aimed at advancing the knowledge, gospel, and church of Christ. Paul’s singular aim was to bring glory to Jesus.”
“‘To live is Christ’ means that we proclaim the gospel of Christ. Paul preached in synagogues; he preached at riversides; he preached as a prisoner; he preached as an apostle; he preached as a tentmaker. His message was constant: “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). He brought the message of Christ’s sacrifice to kings, soldiers, statesmen, priests, and philosophers, Jews and Gentiles, men and women. He would preach to literally anyone who would listen.”
“‘To live is Christ’ means that we imitate the example of Christ. Everything that Jesus did and said, that’s what Paul wanted to do and say. The church benefitted from his godly example: ‘Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ’ 1 Cor. 11:1). What would Jesus do? That’s what we want to do.
“‘To live is Christ’ means that we pursue the knowledge of Christ. We want to know Christ better and better each day. Not just a set of facts about Christ, but Christ Himself. ‘I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead’ (Phil. 3:10-11).
“‘To live is Christ’ means that we are willing to give up anything that prevents us from having Christ. Paul’s testimony in this regard: ‘Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him’ (Phil. 3:7-9).
“We cling to the promise of our Lord in Mark 10:29-30 that our sacrifices for Jesus’ sake will be repaid a hundredfold.
“‘To live is Christ’ means that Christ is our focus, our goal, and our chief desire. Christ is the center point of our mind, heart, body and soul. Everything that we do, we do for Christ’s glory. As we run the ‘race marked out for us,’ we lay aside the entangling sin and worldly distractions, ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus’ (Heb. 12:1-2). He is our life.
“From the moment of the new and heavenly birth, the man begins to live to Christ,” wrote Alistair Begg, speaker on the Truth For Life radio ministry. “Jesus is to believers the one pearl of great price, for whom we are willing to part with all that we have. He has so completely won our heart that it beats for Him alone. To His glory we would live and in defense of His gospel we would die.”
“He is the pattern of our life and the model after which we would sculpture our character,” Begg wrote.
“Paul’s words mean more than most think. They imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ-nay his life itself was Jesus,” Begg wrote. “In the words of an ancient saint, he ate and drank and slept eternal life. Jesus was his very breath; the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his life.”
“Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to that idea?” Begg asks. “Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ?”
My Christian friend, your answer to that is the same as mine I am sure; “no.” But let us not have that be the last word.
You don’t need to enter a new year to turn in a new direction. I know where I am in my Christian walk, you know where you are.
Or at least we think we know.
Let’s ask God to assess our walk and wherever His judgment may fall, we can take steps in the right direction, to live fully for Him.
Living with anything else as your main focus, Begg likens to “spiritual adultery.”
“Lord, accept me; I present myself praying to live only in you and to you,” is Begg’s prayer. “Let me be as the creature that stands between the plow and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be ‘ready for either.”
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