To Live Is Christ, To Die Is Gain

To Live is Christ, to Die is Gain

By: C. Mason Davis

Former President Harry Truman reportedly told a story about a man in a deep coma who was mistakenly sent to a funeral home. Waking up in a coffin, the man questioned his predicament, saying, "If I'm alive, why am I in a casket? And, if I'm dead, why do I have to go to the bathroom?"

Today’s Scripture

Philippians 1:20-26; “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your joy in Christ Jesus will overflow on account of me.”

There are many things to be thankful for in life, but even if there were only two, they would be the two ways of life being, “To live is Christ, to die is gain.” To be alive in the Lord Jesus Christ is cause for great thanksgiving, and even greater cause is to know that what lies beyond this life is something even better. I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

You could summarize what it means to be a Christian, the entirety of the Christian life, with those two statements. If you have your roots deep in those two realities of life and death, then nothing can shake you.

Living in Christ then to gain by dying are the only two options. I'm either alive in Christ, or I'm dead and have departed this world and gone to be with Christ, and either way, it's wonderful. Romans 14:8; “For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.” Paul saw life as something that's bursting with joy. Later on, he says to the Philippians, rejoice in the Lord always. This is the guy who sang in the Philippian jail, rejoicing always because he knew that his life was fruitful labor. He knew that Christ was his life and he loved being alive. And even then he said, but to die is gain. Philippians 3:7-8; “But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.” Then I'll be closer to Christ than I've ever been.

If we don't have that kind of courage and that kind of joy, then it's probable that we still have a lot of growing to do in understanding and embracing the reality of these two statements. If for me is not Christ, if my life is not all wrapped up in the Lord Jesus Christ, then I'm not going to have the joy and contentment and courage that the Paul wrote about. And if I'm not so sure that death is gain, if I dread leaving this life, if I can't imagine that there's something better beyond this, I hope that I'll be healthy to a good old age.

We can be hoping for things in this life, but not looking forward to what lies beyond. Then we're going to be chronically scared of dying. We're going to spend most of our living worrying about dying. If you're not ready to die, you're not really ready to live. And so we need to hear what God is saying to us, the reality of living with Christ and dying as gain. To live is Christ.

And when I live and when I act, I'm living by His life and I'm acting by His actions. Right at the very beginning of Philippians, Paul says that “he who began a good work in you will carry it to completion until the day of Christ.” And then near the very end of Philippians, Paul says, “my God will meet all of your needs according to His riches, the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.”