As christians, if I were to ask you, “What does life mean to you” or “What is life all about?” or “What is living?” How would you respond? These are important questions for all of us as it means a clear distinction between believers in Jesus Christ and non-believers.
In Philippians 1:21, the Apostle Paul declares: “For to me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” This is a tremendous statement, and cannot be treated lightly. This should be the center-piece of every christian’s life.
You may say, this applies only to Paul. Absolutely in not. This applies to everyone of us. What is true about Paul must be also be true about us. Can we sincerely and truthfully say “to us living means Christ?”
Paul makes a fundamental distinction between those who are Christians and those who are not.
What is uppermost in our minds? What interests us the most? Note, Paul is passionate about his love for the Lord. In Philippians 3:7 Paul expresses: “what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.” (Read from verse 8-14). Bro. Paul’s one desire was to know Christ better and better and to love him more and more above all else.
We need to follow Paul’s example and make Christ the very center of our lives. Paul had a purpose in life. (Quote this title as reference,“The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren by Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California). Paul said about the Lord, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death” (Phil 3:10). Not many of us can match Paul’s accomplishments for Christ. But this was not enough. He wanted to know Christ more and more in His resurrection, His sufferings, and His death. This was his real purpose in living, “To live is Christ.” We all should have this passion. Can you imagine what this would mean to the Christian Church?
You may ask me, Bro. how can this we accomplished? Simply through fervent prayer and the Word. “The effective fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). Fervent means “having a passionate intensity.” With this in mind, I believe we will begin to signs of rival, The Holy Spirit is able to do wonders on this basis. Let Jesus Christ be “El Numero Uno” in our lives.
If our singular aim and objective is to bring glory to God, then we must advance the knowledge of Christ, the gospel, and the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church profits from Paul’s example of a godly life, hence he could say, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
“To me to life is Christ means that He is foremost in my mind and my main desire, which means that I must lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares me, running with endurance the race set before me, looking to Jesus, the originator and perfecter of my faith” (Hebrews 12:1,2). Christ is my life. In Him I live and move and have my being!