Bible Reading: 1 Chron. 29; Phil 1:16-30
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21 KJV.
Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians and told them that he was in a fix in deciding where he should be; to be with Christ by departing from this world or to stay alive.
He however chose to stay alive so that he could help others to win them to Christ. (Phil. 1:22-24).
For him to be willing to die, he must have checked himself and found that he was right with God. Hence he made the statement “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
This should be the situation with every one of us. But can we say so? The only way we can confidently say this, is when we perform our role as espoused in Ecclesiastes 12:13 KJV which says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.”
For us to live for Christ means, all our actions are geared towards obedience to his will. Such obedience will be apparent in our daily choices and actions as it will be filled with love. Compassion drove everything that Jesus did and this is why he was focused on transforming lives rather than looking for faults in people. Thus, the commandment of God can only be kept if we show love to everyone around us as well as ourselves. With true love, we will not like anyone to go to hell hence we will be involved in witnessing to them and following them up to ensure they are grounded in the faith. We will look for ways of transforming their lives.
This will also entail daily check up of our lives to identify any mistake or error we could have made in the day with a view to asking for mercy and working on correcting them to avoid a repeat. With this, we would be ready every day to join Christ in glory knowing that we have fulfilled our purpose like Apostle Paul who said in 2 Timothy 4:7 KJV, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith”
Prayer: Father give me the grace to live completely for you in Jesus name.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero