“For to 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.” (Philippians 1:21-23 ESV)
Our attitudes about life and death can sometimes be affected by our current circumstances. Some circumstances may result in a clinging to life: the birth of a child, milestones yet to be reached, an opportunity to travel the world. Other circumstances may result in a yearning for death: the loss of a spouse, a seeming lack of purpose, a feeling of lingering. We may ourselves have been in similar positions before. We’ve clung all-too-tightly to life, and perhaps at times we’ve also given up and longed to depart. But I don’t know anyone that has longed both to live and to die simultaneously—that is, other than the Apostle Paul.
As Paul writes to the Philippians, he seems to be caught between a rock and a hard place. However, for him, the two options are both desirable—to live and continue serving the Lord or to die and be with the Lord. And what’s especially odd about his seemingly incompatible desires is that his circumstances would appear to indicate that death should be the only preferred outcome. He is, after all, under house arrest in Rome for preaching Christ. And this came only after a plot against his life, followed by two years of waiting in Caesarea through a series of unnecessary trials, and finally a disastrous voyage to Rome that was prolonged by shipwreck. Yes, all of the current circumstances in Paul’s life make his life-or-death dilemma seem an easy choice.
However, Paul knows that the fundamental reality that shapes his life is not the fact that he is bound by chains in Rome, but rather the fact that he is bound by grace to God in Christ. The other circumstances did not matter—prison, freedom, wealth, poverty, health, sickness—all of his life’s circumstances find their meaning in that one great circumstance of his life, the fact that he is in Christ. And so, his whole letter to the Philippians is filled with such joy and confidence that live or die, it makes no difference. He would either die in Christ, or he would continue to live both in Christ and for Christ.
Paul also writes that you may share the same confidence! “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. . . . And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:27, 29 ESV) This means you are heirs of the sure hope of eternal life. You’ve been buried with Christ in His death and raised to life with Christ in His resurrection. So, for you it is certain, “To die is gain.”
Also for you, “To live is Christ.” Whatever your current circumstances, whatever your current vocation, it makes no difference. The central reality that shapes your life is the fact that you are bound by grace to God in Christ. No disappointment, no setback, no imprisonment can change that fact. So live! Live out your changing circumstances, live out your vocation for Christ with your focus on that one great circumstance of your life: that you are in Christ. “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17 ESV)
is pastor of Faith Lutheran Church of Manchester, Missouri.
