I will share about Christian books I have read or listened to.
I will be sharing about my life before and after Christ. I will include stories about my pet and other pets I have encountered.
Christ Now. Christ Forever.
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
If you have been around Christianity for any length of time, it is likely you have heard this verse: To live is Christ and to die is gain. It can become so familiar, it’s true meaning escapes us. What does it mean?
…to live is Christ…
The Apostle Paul, imprisoned during the period in which he wrote this letter to the church in Philippi, is communicating a simple fact: Christ is my life. If we were to paraphrase Paul further, he might say: “Jesus is not just part of my life or even most of my life; He is the entire substance and being of my very existence. Every part of it.” In the Christian life, Christ is not a a simple addition–He is the very foundation. His love, His grace, His truth, it’s all built on Him. It isn’t life + Christ. It’s life IS Christ.
…to die is gain.
Paul’s life was full of persecution and hardship, and yet, throughout his letter to the Philippians, his tone is joyful, calm, and purposeful. Paul isn’t looking at death alone when he makes this statement. He is looking beyond. What Paul considers gain in death is eternity with Christ on the other side. To have Christ, all in all. To be with Him forever. All things new. Forever and ever, Paul worshipping the One he loves.
Many scholars believe that Paul was only about five years away from martyrdom when he wrote what became the book of Philippians. On that day, two things happened. The life in Christ that Paul had lived came to its end, living evidence to this day of the power and peace of God. And also, he gained. He entered Heaven. He saw Christ, the One for whom He lived his life. His all in all. And He is with Him now. Worshipping. Praising. Adoring.
His Pain, Our Gain
Isaiah 53 is a stunning chapter in the Bible—in what is now commonly referred to as the “Old Testament.”
Approximately 700 years before Jesus walked the earth, Isaiah prophesied about a suffering servant who would also, somehow and in some way, be exalted. A coming Savior, a future Redeemer, the long-awaited Messiah—whose death would ultimately bring life.
A portion of Isaiah 53 says this:
“But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
Isaiah 53:5 NIV
So, who was this man who would be pierced, crushed, and wounded because of someone else’s sins? Whose undeserved punishment would be the catalyst for healing? Whose life would be given as an offering—so that others might live?
Jesus Christ not only fits the description of the suffering servant who paid the ultimate price to buy His people back, redeem them, and set them free—He ...
“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge...
