Philippians 1:21-26

Philippians 1:21-26

Life without Christ is a horrible prospect. We would exist in lives of quiet desperation. Our goal might be to have enough wealth, power, and resources to ensure that these short years are filled with as much pleasure as possible, which itself is often disappointing and empty. We desperately fight a losing battle to extend our existence by weeks, or days, or hours, or minutes, a struggle in which we are doomed to fail. After death we go into something much worse than non-existence. All our lives would be as insignificant as a single grain of sand as others drive by on their way to the beach. Without Christ, this life means nothing, and what comes after death means even less.

But with Christ we are in the condition of Paul. “To live is Christ; to die is gain.” If we are in Christ, then our lives, ideally, are like the life of Christ. We desperately need to rethink our understanding of the life of Christ on Earth. Our mental picture of Jesus is far too shallow, two-dimensional, and negative. We have a picture of a poor traveling preacher who went around doing His thing and wanting to get His job done and get it over with. Our perception and values make it difficult for us to see Jesus properly. We see holiness as not doing stuff, especially the fun stuff. We see poverty as grinding, fearful hardship. We see unpopularity as the direst crisis. We see talking about God as something that has to be endured. We look at the life of Jesus as a hard, laborious, dull, drab life, and who wants that? 

The problem is not the life of Jesus but our poor understanding. Never in the entire universe was there a life of greater love, hope, joy, peace, and delight than the life of Jesus. When He talked about God, He was telling exciting good news. When He was unpopular, it was a reminder of the Father's love. Poverty was an opportunity to see God the Father's care. When He served or did miracles, it was giving a gift better than any Christmas gift possible. Prayer was a loving conversation with the beloved one. Never was there a more full, complete, spectacular life lived. 

As Christians, we enter into that life. The only thing that could be better would be to leave this earthly life behind, because it limits how much we experience living with Christ. So to live in this life that becomes the life of Christ, but to die is gain. The reason the Christian life is hard is because we have so little of Christ in it.

“Lord, help me to live the life of Christ.  Now and forever. AMEN”