Dying Is Better

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. [Philippians 1.21]

If the Church really believed and practiced this statement, things would be much different in Christendom.

First, if we really believed that our lives were for Christ to live on earth, then everything the Bible tells us about Jesus would be seen and done through our lives. We would turn water into wine. We would raise the dead and heal the sick. We would preach to Good News of God's Kingdom. We would make disciples. We would walk on water. We would calm storms. We would feed thousands (miraculously). We would count our lives as a ransom for others. We would value our own lives only by the redemption provided for others...

And, there it was... I will say it again, we would value our own lives only by the redemption provided for others.

Jesus said:

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. [John 15.13]

So, Paul's statement about dying in Philippians 1.12 is twofold. There is the obvious glory of dying and then being in God's presence. But, that glory in God's presence is bountifully intensified by dying on behalf of others!

To really be like Jesus is to count our own lives as nothing but a 'value' that we have been given so that we might 'spend' it on others.

Simply put, if a parent gives a child money to go to the store to buy bread, then that money is for bread. When the child returns there is every expectation that the money will be gone and that he will have bread in its place.

So it is with our lives. God (the Parent) has given us life (the money) to spend on other souls (the bread) at the earth (the store).

It is not ironic that Jesus told the disciples the following:

As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” [Matthew 26.26]

The disciples were Jesus' bread to bring back to the Father (read John 17). Jesus understood that His body - His life - His bread - was the 'money' He had been given to spend on the disciples' lives - their bread - to bring them to God.

To spend our lives on others for the Kingdom of God is the calling upon every soul who would listen to God's voice. Whether it is the supreme act of heroism or a lifetime of putting others first, doesn't matter. What matters is that the life we have been given is not ours to keep. My life is only my own to bring other lives to God.

Father, what I have written here is greater than I am. But I know it is truth, and I know it is Your will for my life.