Life's Ultimate Value

[stephen]

"For to me to live is Christ..... and to die is gain" Philippians 1 :18

The Apostle Paul by his life and witness made Christianity a dynamic force as few other lives have. He did that because in himself he realised so completely the purpose of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think he expressed this more clearly than anywhere else when towards the close of his missionary career, in the solitary confinement of a Roman prison, he said......"For to me to live is Christ.......and to die is gain"

At that time he was awaiting final word of the Roman Emperor to decide in which of two ways his future path would lie. Either it would be execution, sudden death....or release and the continuace of his missionary journey.

Looking at these two sharply divergent roads, in this one trenchant phrase he sums up all that the Christian faith meant to him "To live is Christ.......to die is gain" Whichever way he looks Jesus fills the picture. Everwhere he sees His LOrd.

Excecution at the hands of Rome would usher him at once into the presence of his God. Freedom would give him more time to make Jesus known to other nations and peoples. To be with Christ he said is far better, but to remain and proclaim the saving truth of the gospel would seem to be more needful.

Here then, is a man who can sum up all of life's ambition in this one sentance "To me to live is Christ' In the light of that ambition life and death lose their significance,.... and in life's darkest experience there is a resounding note of victory.

Surely here is the answer to the need of us all....a triumphant faith which reveals intself in adverssity, and which shines in the darkness, ultimately vanquishing even death itself

 

[shortlady]

"For to me to live is Christ..... and to die is gain" Philippians 1 :18

The Apostle Paul by his life and witness made Christianity a dynamic force as few other lives have. He did that because in himself he realised so completely the purpose of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I think he expressed this more clearly than anywhere else when towards the close of his missionary career, in the solitary confinement of a Roman prison, he said......"For to me to live is Christ.......and to die is gain"

At that time he was awaiting final word of the Roman Emperor to decide in which of two ways his future path would lie. Either it would be execution, sudden death....or release and the continuace of his missionary journey.

Looking at these two sharply divergent roads, in this one trenchant phrase he sums up all that the Christian faith meant to him "To live is Christ.......to die is gain" Whichever way he looks Jesus fills the picture. Everwhere he sees His LOrd.

Excecution at the hands of Rome would usher him at once into the presence of his God. Freedom would give him more time to make Jesus known to other nations and peoples. To be with Christ he said is far better, but to remain and proclaim the saving truth of the gospel would seem to be more needful.

Here then, is a man who can sum up all of life's ambition in this one sentance "To me to live is Christ' In the light of that ambition life and death lose their significance,.... and in life's darkest experience there is a resounding note of victory.

Surely here is the answer to the need of us all....a triumphant faith which reveals intself in adverssity, and which shines in the darkness, ultimately vanquishing even death itself

This is such a powerful message. To know regardless what we are face with once we are in Christ, death cannot scare us or separate us from God. To know to be absent from the body we will be in the Presence of Our Lord. Victory in Jesus Our Savior forever.

 

[Boanerges]

Amen Stephen, that is a now word for all of us!

 

[stephen]

This is such a powerful message. To know regardless what we are face with once we are in Christ, death cannot scare us or separate us from God. To know to be absent from the body we will be in the Presence of Our Lord. Victory in Jesus Our Savior forever.

Indeed sister. We are so privileged to have met the Saviour. We are richer than a millionaire.....just because He cares. The blessings of our LOrd we share....just because He cares.

 

[Coconut]

Here then, is a man who can sum up all of life's ambition in this one sentance "To me to live is Christ' In the light of that ambition life and death lose their significance,.... and in life's darkest experience there is a resounding note of victory.

Surely here is the answer to the need of us all....a triumphant faith which reveals intself in adverssity, and which shines in the darkness, ultimately vanquishing even death itself

amen amen amen! That was wonderful!

Oh to embrace the Lord as He has embraced us...nothing between!




Job 19:23 "Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Job 19:24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
Job 19:26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,
Job 19:27 whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!