Living and Dying 101

27. August 2009 by BruceSmith.

FOR ME TO LIVE IS CHRIST, TO DIE IS GAIN

The apostle Paul penned those words.  It seems the huge figure of Christendom, the writer of the majority of the New Testament, the one who was exceedingly well educated, a former hater of Christ followers, had a major change of heart, mind, and soul.  His “conversion” is emblematic of what it means to be transformed by the Gospel.  More directly, Paul’s transformation, and his writing are the model for what it means and what it looks like to have truly been made new by God.

 My writing on this point is motivated by a number of things.  First off, it appears, if the polling stats are correct (George Barna and others), that much of what people in churches today believe is at odds with Paul’s model of Christianity.  Many hold beliefs not at all different from that of secular society.  Core beliefs of faith such as the divinity of Christ, the virgin birth, the centrality of the cross for salvation, Jesus as the only way to God, the bible as the rule of faith and living, and many more, are held in question by professed “Christians”.  

The issue at hand could not be more critical in an age where the cry of the day is for an embrace of anything and everything save absolute truth.  Paul, an educated man, schooled in thought, philosophy, speech, and religion, upon meeting God in real terms, had his entire life utterly redrawn.  He went from being a murderer of Gods people to becoming one of the giants of biblical history.  He captures his transformation and the significance of it in what could be considered his life motto, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain”.  

But what does this mean, and how does it relate to Christianity today and to the church in the modern world?  Essentially it calls us to question the depth and reality of our faith, and the reality of our transformation.  Again, if the stats are true, it would appear that many who fill the pews and many who attach the name “Christian” to themselves, have merely added church or some form of the gospel to their lives.  This is exactly what Paul stood against.

Paul’s life motto was a denunciation of living life like everyone else and adding the gospel to it.  We do not get to pick and choose what we believe, what we are comfortable with, what is truly biblical reality.  That has been given to us by God.  The reality of the gospel is utterly transformative.  It redraws the lines around every breath we take and every move we make.  Not in an oppressive and stifling way, rather, in a way that opens up an entirely new vista of living.  You cannot miss this if you read Paul’s writings.  Here we find the most real, alive, sober, ecstatic, and vibrant account of Godliness we can find.  While “putting to death” the temptations of the flesh (lust, greed, selfishness, drunkenness, profanity, gossip…), and “fighting the good fight”, Paul’s life was defined by his utter joy to have been made new and to suffer for the sake of the gospel.

“For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”, ought to be the refrain of each of our lives.  It is the cry of anyone who has understood that every human interaction, thought, deed, expression, response, action, desire, feeling, movement and belief is ripe with the potential of being an expression of the reality of God alive in us.  If this is not a motto we can identify with, we need give some sober thought to the true nature of the gospel’s effect upon us.  Are we transformed?  Or have we added something to our secular lives for comfort or some other reason?  Have we brought God to us on our terms?  Or has he truly captured our hearts, minds, and souls?  This is the single most important question for any of us.

Does your awareness of God in you impact the way you deal with the barista at Starbucks, the waiter that makes a mistake at lunch, the co-worker that troubles you, your children when they are at their worst, your spouse or lover when your mood is not so great?  Does the reality of the gospel in your life ignite you with enough zeal and joy that you thrive in doing good even when it will not benefit you and when it may even challenge your circumstances?  Paul was imprisoned, beaten, and left for dead as a direct result of his faith, again and again.  And yet, for him, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain”.  Does the thought of doing God’s will no matter what in this life spur you on?  Does the thought of being done with this broken world and being face to face with Christ place a hunger in your soul for that ultimate reality?  Paul was thrilled to be here doing God’s work, but more hungry to be done and to moving on to a better place.

The call of Paul’s life and writing is a reminder for us that the gospel has untold power to totally revolutionize our lives.  It is a call to consider how we are living our lives and who we are living for.  If its about us, we have missed the point.  If we have not recognized, along with Paul, our utter depravity and need of God, we have not understood the entire point of the cross or the hope found in this Gospel.  As we come to know Paul’s life motto and take it as our own, life unfolds with more power, poise, grace, and joy than we could ever imagine.

The Gospel, the Good News, literally, transforms our beliefs and how we arrive at them.  It transforms our daily movement and desires.  It imbues every breath we take.  When transformed by God, made new by the living Christ, we move from death unto life, and newness is the characteristic of our lives.  Paul also wrote, “Behold, all things have become new.”  Is your life joyfully “new”?  Different?  If not, maybe you have merely added something of your own choosing.  Whatever that is, its not the true Gospel.  We do not add God to our activities.  He defines us.  That is the joyful, life-giving, and soul-altering reality of the Good News.  That is life.  The old has gone (and needed to go) and the new has come (thank goodness, thank God).  For me, to live is Christ…and to die is ultimate gain.  

God make this our life’s reality.  Amen.

Bruce Smith

soulstormsite.com

optimuslife.org

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