For to Me, to Live Is Christ and to Die Is Gain

Paul tells the church in Philippi that he is not ashamed for them to know he is in prison for the sake of the gospel; far from it, he is glad. There are some who preach Christ in order to add to his distress, yet he confesses that if people come to hear the name of Jesus through them, he rejoices in that.

When a Christian who has grown through hardship turns those painful seasons into a means of helping others, God sees the wisdom in it and commends it. People judge by outcomes, but God sees the road that led there; and so true devotion is the humility that seeks not to display its own righteousness but to let Christ alone be seen.

Paul confesses that to go on living and bring the gospel to more souls is gain, and that to die and be with Christ is gain as well. Those who seek to live for themselves will die, and those who are willing to die for God will live: this faith is what gives the strength to live boldly, unafraid even in the face of the world’s scorn and persecution.