to live is Christ

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain --Philippians 1: 21

The believer did not always live for Christ. He began to do so when God the Holy Spirit convinced him of sin, and when by grace he was brought to see the dying Savior making a propitiation for his guilt. From the moment of the new and celestial birth, the believer begins to live for Christ. Jesus is to believers the "one pearl of great price" (Matt. 13:46), for whom we are willing to part with all that we have. He has so completely won our love that it beats alone for Him. To His glory we would live and in defense of His Gospel we would die. He is the pattern of our life and the model after which we would sculpture our character. Paul's words mean more than most men think. Many would say that Paul's words imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ, but rather, his life itself was Jesus! In the words of an ancient saint, he did "eat and drink and sleep eternal life." Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this ideal? Can you honestly say that for you "to live is Christ"? Are you doing your work for Christ, or are you working toward self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, "Is that a base reason?" For the Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ. How can he live for another purpose without comitting spiritual adultery? Many carry out this principle in some measure, but who would dare to say that he has lived wholly for Christ as the apostle did? Yet this alone is the true life of a Christian -- its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end. It is all gathered up in one word:

Jesus. Lord, accept me. I present myself praying to live only in You and for You. Let me be as the bullock that stands between the plough and the altar. Let my motto be "Ready for work or for sacrifice." -- let this be our prayer