To Die is Gain
"For to me,
to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Philippians
1:21, NKJV)
Paul wrote these
words while imprisoned in Rome and was facing death for the sake of the
Gospel. He continues to say that it is impossible to
choose between life and death. His first choice was to
depart and be with the Lord, but he felt that it was
also needful for him to remain in this life in order to
minister to the church.
A believer’s
attitude to death reveals a great deal about where his
priorities lie and where his heart is. Jesus said that "where
your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
(Matthew 6:21, NKJV). If your treasure is in this life –
no matter what it may be – you will want to cling to
life here as much as possible in order to be with that
which is your treasure. Recently I was shocked as I
watched, over a period of months, as a televangelist
lost his struggle with cancer and finally died. The
whole debacle was open for all who cared to tune into
his broadcasts on the television and internet. Why
should this be such a shock? Because here was a
“believer” using every trick in the book to stay alive.
From trying to manipulate God by challenging Him
publicly to heal him else God would be exposed as a liar
and a fraud to running to many physicians in various
countries. If this was an unbeliever, one would not be
surprised, but from someone who proclaimed himself as a
teacher of God’s word it came as a shock. But then, when
one looks at such a man’s immense wealth, the adoration
of his doting disciples and his unrestricted fleshly
indulgences (sanctioned by a message of cheap grace), it
comes as no surprise that it was hard to let go.
Friend where is
your treasure? What do you love most? If it is anything
but Christ; you will have a hard time of dying as you
will also try to hold onto life here below as much as
possible. For Paul to live was not to enjoy earthly
pleasures, it was Christ. Christ had become his whole
life. There was nothing he loved more, derived greater
pleasure from, nothing that inspired Him or filled his
hopes more than the Son of God. Not his ministry, future
goals, hopes or dreams could hold a candle to his desire
for His Master. His life was not to do the will of the
Lord, or to study His word or to preach about Him.
Christ was his whole life. His beginning and end,
his alpha and omega – his everything. It is for this
reason that death was gain to him. Death would not mean
losing anything. He had turned his back on it all long
ago when he counted it all as rubbish that he might gain
Christ. So in death there was no loss – only a greater
measure of Him who had become his everything to be
gained. "We are... well pleased rather to be absent
from the body and to be present with the Lord." (2
Corinthians 5:8, NKJV).
If our lives
revolve around anything other than Christ, death will
hold a measure of fear and loss. The greater our
involvement and ties to this present world, the greater
or hesitance to fly into His presence. No wonder Jesus
said that it is hard for a rich man to enter into the
Kingdom. His material things would simply prevent him
from letting go of this life and clinging to the next. I
never discovered if the following story was a myth or
truth, but when I was growing up, people used to present
this method for catching a monkey: One would make a hole
in a big pumpkin so that the monkey could get to the
pips. The hole had to be just big enough for the monkey
to get his hand through. Once the monkey grabs hold of
the seed, his fist is too big to come back out and since
the stupid animal would not let go of his treasure, he
could easily be caught. I wonder how many readers have
clung to the worthless pips of this life and refusing to
let go have become ensnared. The wife of the
abovementioned preacher could not bear to be with him
during his final hours because of the torment he was
enduring – the torment of a man having to let go of the
world he loved and having to face a Christ whose name
very seldom crossed his lips. What a tragedy!
Churchill’s last words were: “What a fool I have been.”,
Henry VIII said: “Everything is gone - kingdom, body and
soul!” Voltaire, the famous cynic, had a terrible end.
His nurse said: “For all the wealth of
Europe, I would not see another infidel
die.”
Oh how
different is the death of one whose life was Christ!
Look at Jesus: “He said, “Father, ‘into Your hands I
commit My spirit.’” Having said this, He breathed His
last.” (Luke 23:46, NKJV). Stephen died gloriously
seeing Jesus rise to welcome him. Dwight L. Moody, the
evangelist, died saying: "This is my coronation day. If
this is death, it is sweet!” 24 hours before the Nazis
executed Graf von Moltke, he wrote to his wife: "How
gracious is God to me! My heart is full of thanks, there
is no room for anything else.” It is only when Christ
has become our all in all that we can shout with Paul:
“O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your
victory?” (1 Corinthians 15:55, NKJV)
In the verse
preceding our text, Paul said: “as always, so now
also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by
life or by death." (Philippians 1:20, NKJV). Not
only was his life totally wrapped up with and in Christ,
he was also determined and confident that he would
glorify the Lord in life and in death. So, it did not
really matter to him if he lived or died because it was
no longer about himself and his desires, but it was
about magnifying the Lord whom he loved with all his
heart.
So here are the
most important questions anyone will ask you: Is your
life Christ and is Christ your life? Have you so fallen
in love with Him that nothing else matters and that you
are ready to let everything drop, right now, and fly
into the bosom of the Lord Jesus or are there things
that you have not yet let go?
"Remember Lot’s wife." (Luke 17:32, NKJV)
Anton
Bosch
antonbosch@sbcglobal.net
www.abcd.co.za/offi
www.abcd.co.za/plumbline
Tel 818 846 5520
Fax 818 846 4357
3310 West
Magnolia Blvd
Burbank, California
91505-2907
USA