PHILIPPIANS 1:18-21 – “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”

THEME OF THE DAY: ALL OF LIFE.  What motivates you to get out of bed in the morning?  What puts a “spring in your step” as you engage the world?  What energizes you to sacrificially serve your family, neighbors, and other Christians?  What grips your heart with passion each day of your life?  What is the chief goal that drives everything you do?  What is the single aspect of your life that you want remembered after you die?

If we were able to ask the Apostle Paul those questions, I think we would see him pause, smile, and say, “That is not difficult for me to answer.  It is Jesus Christ; to know Him so as I might live all of life centered on Him.  He is everything to me and everything about me is consumed with Him.”  And Paul would not be making self-centered, arrogant and draw attention to me type of statements.  His life reflected it as we read in today’s scripture and the third chapter of the same New Testament book Philippians – “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead” (Philippians 3:7-11).

So how do we get to the place where we find the Apostle Paul?  At least three applications.  First, believe this is normative Christian life.  Paul is not in some “super Christian” status.  “To live is Christ” is how the New Testament describes Christianity.  And we don’t partially live for Christ.  We cannot give Him our Sundays but live Monday through Saturday as we choose or by worldliness.  No, we are all in all the time with the Lord Jesus.

Next application is prayer.  We pray for the Lord to create within us a desire to know Him, a strong desire mirroring that of the Psalmist – “O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water” (Psalm 63:1).  Prayer is essential toward having this Christ-consumed desire for we cannot create a thirst for Him on our own, but praise the Lord, He wants us to have it!

Finally, never forget what Christ did for us.  In our minds’ eye and by faith, linger at the cross of our Lord Jesus. Fix our gaze upon Him and be able to say with the Apostle Paul – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).  To live with Gospel awareness and personal application intensifies our desire for Christ leading to a life totally submitted to and under His control.  After all, that really does define the Christian life.

PRAYER: Father, may I see the inestimable value in Your Son and its radical impact in all areas of my life.

REFLECTION: Christ must be Lord of all in our lives or not Lord at all. He will assume no second place.