June 24
“For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you,” Philippians 1:21-24.
Have you ever prayed to die? In answer to this question, most people would say, “No!” Have you ever prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Many people would answer, “Many times!”
In the Seventh Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “But deliver us from evil.” What does this mean? In his explanation, Dr. Martin Luther wrote, “We pray in this petition, as the sum of all, that our Father in heaven would deliver us from every evil of body and soul, property and honor, and finally, when our last hour has come, grant us a blessed end, and graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven.”
So I will ask again, “Have you ever prayed to die?” After a little deeper thought, you will answer, “Yes!” We pray that God would grant us a blessed end, a quiet, peaceful departure from this “vale of tears” – this sinful world – and take us to Himself in heaven.
To the Philippians, the apostle Paul wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” We live as Christians in this life, and when we die, we inherit eternal life by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our only Savior from sin, death, and the devil. We await God’s hour to take us from this life into the halls of heaven. Until that time, we live on in the flesh and labor for the Lord, and we place everything into His hands.
Paul said, “I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you.” On the one hand, Paul desired to depart and be with Christ, which would be far better than anything that he could have in this life. On the other hand, it was necessary for him to remain on earth and preach the glorious Gospel for the salvation of sinners.
Paul pictures himself with his eyes looking heavenward and desiring to be with Jesus, but then looking around and seeing all the souls who need to hear the Gospel, and he concludes that for the time being he must remain and fulfill his calling on earth.
You and I, as Christians, also desire to see and be with Jesus, but until that time comes according to God’s choosing, we must live, work, and witness for Jesus, the Savior of all people. Remember the words of our Lord just prior to His ascension into heaven: “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” Acts 1:8. We believe in Jesus as our Savior, and we speak to others that they too might come to believe by the power of the Holy Spirit through the Word. With the poet, we sing:
“For me to live is Jesus,
To die is gain for me;
Then, whensoe’er He pleases,
I meet death willingly.
For Christ, my Lord and Brother,
I leave this world so dim,
And gladly seek that other,
Where I shall be with Him.” Amen.