To Live and Die

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Phil 1:21).

I'll be honest. For a long time that statement by Paul was one of the really difficult things for me to comprehend. Part of the reason it was hard for me was because it appeared so straightforward. He wasn't using hyperbole or symbolism. He wasn't speaking mysteriously at all. He seemed to say just what he meant. So ... what did he mean?

The truth is that I had no problem with the second phrase at all. I know ... a lot of people trip over that one. Not me. I understood that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). And, seriously, what in this world could possibly compare with being present with the Lord? No more sin. No more failure. No more sorrow. Instead, the unending, uninterrupted bliss of the presence of my Savior. What could be better? No, I understood "to die is gain". What I didn't quite get was "to live is Christ." What did that mean? It's not as if Paul didn't tell us. "If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me," Paul says in the next verse. So, "to live is Christ" is equated somehow with "fruitful labor". But how was that "Christ"?

And then, eventually, I got it. Reading farther, Paul writes, "I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again" (Phil 1:25-26). Paul explains his "fruitful labor" -- "your progress and joy in the faith". That is "fruitful labor". Of course, that's also the labor of Christ, isn't it? Isn't that exactly the process which we call "sanctification"? Isn't it what God does in us (Phil 2:13)? Isn't that the work of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23)?

Figuring out what Paul meant by "to live is Christ" was satisfying. Still, it turned out to be unnerving as well. You see, Paul appears to have a singular aim. He's not worried about food or clothing (Phil 4:11-12). Suffering (Phil 1:29-30), imprisonment (Phil 1:12-14), a "thorn in the flesh" (2 Cor 12:7-9), and all manners of hardship (2 Cor 11:24-30) are good things to Paul. The best thing to Paul was death itself (Phil 1:23). So Paul's primary concern in life was that he imitate Christ by working for the progress and joy in the faith for those with whom he came in contact. It was unnerving, then, because I know that's not the case with me. I concern myself with where my next meal is coming from. I care if I'm comfortable. I have lots of distractions from a sole concern for the progress and joy in the faith of others around me.

I guess, then, that the reason it was so confusing to me in the first place was that it was so foreign to me. And, I suppose, I need to get to work on that.