Have you ever been driving down a familiar stretch of road, only to see the sun shine a little differently on scenery that you think you know like the back of your hand, and all of a sudden it just looks new, fresh, divergent?
That was this verse this morning… a very familiar “stretch of Scriptural road” that I’d driven down many times before.
Somehow the sun shimmered on it in a slightly different way, and the landscape shifted for me.
It’s a pithy statement; one of the Apostle Paul’s more memorable quotes.
I hear it used in sermons quite frequently.
I’ve spoken it often in conversations and messages myself; and, I’ve re-written it in posts, letters, cards to friends (well, at least the first half of the verse).
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
I sat with it just a little while this morning taking in the view…
Here’s how I’ve always read this verse through Paul’s pen:
If I continue to live, great! My life belongs to Jesus and He will be my focus. If I die, great – far, far better, in fact! I get to go be with the lover of my soul, the love of my life, my One and Only (in whose Presence is fulness of joy).
Look at the rest of the paragraph Paul is writing to the Philippians:
For 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…for your progress and joy in the faith; so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus (verses 21-25, emphasis mine).
Paul’s want-to longs for heaven; but, Paul’s why-for (his purpose) is to see the church grow deeper in faith, fully experiencing gospel-living.
This apostle had adopted a Jesus-mindset (see Philippians 2:5-7); an attitude that served others out of a heart of love.
Living had to do with loving; and, loving had to do with “laboring” on behalf of those he loved.
Not, laboring as in the result of an end-of-the-day salary or pat on the back for all he marked off his to-do-list; but, laboring to bear fruit on behalf of the gospel.
Laboring to see the faith of his fledgling church deepen, put down roots, sprout, and grow in measurable ways.
Paul didn’t want to see his heart’s desire fulfilled (go on to heaven to be with Jesus), leaving his children-in-the-faith with an incomplete, immature, under-developed faith.
So, if Paul lives, he gets to see more of Jesus formed in them…but if he dies, he gets to see more of Jesus for himself…
What a win-win!
To live for Christ is really to live for the sake of someone else’s spiritual development…
The shift this passage took for me this morning, isn’t so much about just living for Jesus (as important as that is), but living for those around me to see more of Jesus in me, so that more of Jesus, then, lives in (and through) them for others to see.
So, it seems to me that what Paul is really saying, in context, is that his beloved church at Philippi doesn’t need to believe more of the gospel, they need to become the gospel…
So what?
I’m living, as I well know, on a short leash. We all are.
With what’s left of my days, I want to be purposeful in how I spend my hours.
I contemplate the best ways to do so: What that looks like. What my end goal should be.
David started this specific thinking with this verse:
Then, Paul settled it for me today.
It’s getting the gospel in me, allowing it to take root, so Jesus’ lives through me for the sake of the gospel in others…one generation to the next.
Like Paul, I really don’t want to leave this earth (even as wonderful as heaven is and how much I long to meet Jesus face-to-face) until I am privileged to see those coming behind me walking in truth.
