Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Paul Knew that the death of a Christian was not the end, as so
many in the world believe it to be. On the contrary, the death of a believer in
Christ is an advancement to the presence of the glory of God. It is not a loss
for the Christian; it is a gain. This sound, clear-cut testimony of Paul
concisely covers the philosophy by which he lived his life.
Paul's death
would be a gain in two respects; first, it would bring glory to Christ Jesus,
and secondly, it would mean that he (Paul) would be in the presence of the one
that loves us as no one else can even imagine or comprehend, which would be a
significant gain.
There are
many theories about what happens at death, but for the Christian, the one who
knows Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior, these theories are seriously
debunked. This verse of Scripture is evidence that we, the children of God,
will go into His presence at the instant we draw our last breath here on this
earth. If this were the only verse in the Bible that stated this, it would be
sufficient enough to base our faith upon. However, this is not the case; there
are, in many parts of the Bible, comprehensive, all-embracing, and
all-inclusive evidence to that truth.
Our physical death is a
win for the Christian; it is a head start on the rapture because the believer
will be going to the same place at both incidents. As children of God, we are
more alive after our deaths than before it. Death will liberate and free us
from the bonds and restraints that prevent us from experiencing a full fellowship
with our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:8).
There will be
sorrow at the death of our friends and loved ones. However, the grief we
experience at losing someone close to us is joyful, so we experience sorrowful
rejoicing. The suffering that we go through is lessened with an unshakable hope
that we have because of the sacrifice made on our behalf by our Lord and Savior
on the Cross of Calvary. The key watchwords come from another writing of Paul,
the second letter to the Corinthians: "sorrowful,
yet always rejoicing" (2 Corinthians 6:10a)
Years ago, I knew a
lady that was within hours of her death; the one thing that she kept repeating,
over and over, was that she was so scared and afraid. Unfortunately, for most
of the world, this is the case; people are fearful of death because they are
not sure what will happen. This fear could have something to do with the
abundance of false stories and theories circulating worldwide, and people don't
know what to believe. The sad part of this is that the gospel's truth is right
there for all that want to embrace it. For the Christian, however, they do not
have to fear death because we know what will take place.
Ecclesiastes 12:7: And the dust returns to the ground it came from, and
the spirit returns to God that Gave it.
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