PHILIPPIANS 1:21-25 – For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith.”

THEME OF THE DAY: TO LIVE FOR CHRIST. TO LIVE IS CHRIST.  Would it not be great to be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “For to live is Christ and to die is gain” as a testimony of our lives?  We can.  In fact, we should be able to do so because that truly defines what it means to live the Christian life. Yes, Paul was unique in his calling from God, but that doesn’t give us a pass when it comes to centering all of life on Christ. Our relationships, attitudes, speech, actions, vocations, use of discretionary time and our resources are to fall under the authority, privilege, and joy of the Lordship of Christ.  Everything about us should point to “For me to live is Christ.”

A very long time again, 433 A.D., a prayer was supposed to have been written by one of Ireland’s patron saints, St. Patrick. It was titled, “St. Patrick’s Breastplate” and a portion reads . . .

“Christ be with me, Christ in the front, Christ in the rear, Christ within me, Christ below me, Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left, Christ in the fort, Christ in the chariot seat, Christ at the helm, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”

Doesn’t that prayer capture the essence of what it means to live wholeheartedly, unrestricted for Christ? But we cannot get there on the strength of self.  The level of surrender of our lives to Christ so as to enable us to say and live the words, “For me to live is Christ” only comes through one means.  It is the Lord revealing Himself in His love for us.  Without a true experience of the love of God in our hearts, any commitment to the Lord will fail.  So, with that in mind, let me encourage us to make the following prayer of the Apostle Paul our own.  Pray it daily. Maybe multiple times a day.  Memorize it. Plead to God to answer it because if He starts to do so, we will not only be able to pray St. Patrick’s prayer with sincerity but proclaim the words of the Apostle Paul as our own – For me to live is Christ.  Now the prayer . . .

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (EPHESIANS 3:14-19).

PRAYER: “Father, may all my life be a reflection of Christ in everything I do, say, and think.”

QUOTE: “For the Christian, Christ is not part of our lives, but He defines and directs all of our lives.”

In the affection of Christ Jesus,

Pastor Jim