Philippians 1:21 (Amplified Bible) “For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity]”
This verse offers some of the most memorable words in the entire Bible: "For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Regardless of whether the verdict of his case was life or death, Paul would remain faithful to God. He knew that life on this earth meant to live for Christ, but death would be even better because he would be in the presence of the Lord. Paul was in no hurry to die, since it was important to him to spread the gospel as far as possible.
On the 7th of September, 1850, seven British missionaries set sail from Liverpool. Under the leadership of Captain Allen Francis Gardiner — a decorated veteran of the Royal Navy — they were bound for Patagonia, at the southernmost tip of South America. They had six months of provisions and high hopes for the work of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Yet the trip ended in total failure. The natives were hostile. The climate was harsh and unforgiving. The resupply ship failed to arrive until it was too late. And the missionaries died of starvation, one by one.
The party’s surgeon was Richard Williams, and when the search party found his body, they also found his diary. The last page he ever wrote was a testimony to his undying faith in Jesus Christ. We can picture him huddled up in the hull of his little boat, suffering from sickness, and writing the following words as his last testament:
‘Should anything prevent my ever adding to this (diary), let my beloved ones at home rest assured that I was happy, beyond all expression, the night I wrote these lines, and would not have exchanged situations with any man living. Let them also be assured that my hopes were full and blooming with immortality, that Heaven and Love and Christ, which mean one and the same divine thing, were my soul; that the hope of glory filled my whole heart with joy and gladness; and that ‘TO ME to live is Christ and to die is gain.’”
God of the first and the last,
and all those in between,
Your grace reaches out to all of us—
life-long believers or newcomers alike.
You call us to live as citizens of heaven,
to work together with one mind and one purpose,
to reach out in love to those in need.
Strengthen us so that we might live in a manner worthy
of the Good News we have received,
offering our lives to the building up of Your upside-down kingdom,
where the last are first, and the first are last,
and there is grace enough for all. Amen
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