I want to share something that has been really on my heart recently…

Sometimes we just seem to clutter ourselve up as Christians with a whole lot of ‘stuff’…and often the stuff just distracts us and takes our minds away from the central focus of who we realy are.   Recently, I believe God has been drawing my heart back to a place of deep love for and devotion to Jesus.  We can get away from this.  As followers of Jesus we can spend so much of our time doing so many things, being at so many places…we spend time around Christian friend…we mix in Christian circles…but somehow in all of this, we can lose what should be our first love – Jesus.  Our identity is in Christ – first and foremost.  We should be all about him.

The Apostle Paul said ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21)

‘For me to live is Christ…’

Paul lived in such a way that for him, life itself was all about Jesus.  He lived out of a place of sins forgiven.  He lived out grace – he knew of the grace God had poured out upon him and he too lived out this grace before others.  Paul was living for a cause much greater than himself.  He was living for the Kingdom.  He was living for Jesus.  He was consumed by Jesus.  His life just oozed Christ.  For Paul to live, it was Christ. 

‘…to die is gain’

What an amazing thing to say.  Think about it now.  To say that ‘to live is Christ’ is one thing but to then say that ‘to die is gain’ is another.  Paul is saying that in death it will be far better!  He says that through dying he will be better off…in death he will be richer…because then, he knows he will be in the presence of Jesus.  He will be there.  He will recieve his reward.  Sin-filled earth left behind.  He will be in paradise.  Continuous worship will consume him.  No more tears.  No more pain.  No more mourning.  No more hurting.  No more death.  When you think of it this way…we have everything to gain in death!

We can’t get our head around these things.  We just can’t…but God is faithful and his word is true.

I want my life to count for the Kingdom.  Really count.  Today, I’m pausing and looking ahead.  I want to live the rest of my life centred around Jesus.  I want to be all about Jesus.  I want to spend time (well, some time anyway lol) with other people who are all about Jesus and I want to reach out to the lost with the only real source of hope I have or know of – Jesus.  You see, it really is all about him.  We have to stop substituting other things for Jesus.  We need to get those things out of the place in our lives that must be occupied by Jesus…

I want to say everyday I get up – ‘For me to live is Christ…’  And I want to live this out…or rather…let him live through me…

But add to that the words ‘…to die is gain’ and we will add the ‘long view’ to who we are.  We will see beyond this life.  I want to live  for Jesus each day but I so want to have the long view as well…I want to look towards the glory of heaven.

Wouldn’t it be great to have this as a verse for life – ‘For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21).  I guess this is where I’m at.  I want my life and ministry to be be based around this.  Whatever God decides to use me in and for I just want it to be all about Jesus…