"I don't expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn't shut me up; they gave me a pulpit! Alive, I'm Christ's messenger; dead, I'm his bounty. Life versus even more life! I can't lose." ~ MSG
Death is Gain
It is odd in our hyper-secular culture to think of death as a gain. After all, it seems modernity has brought about nearly every conceivable way to avoid death. Even as Christians here in the U.S. it is easy to simply assume the worldview of our culture and see death as the ultimate sacrifice...as if it were something that only a few could embrace and those few are to be thought of as supreme for some reason.
Here in the midst of Memorial Day weekend, many are gearing up to mourn again those that have lost their lives in battle and so they should. Scripture speaks to us that the greatest love is to lay down our lives for another... but even in such a sacrifice, a Christian should know that there is no loss in death.
In fact, it is death - our baptism into the crucifixion of Christ - that brings about our true life: our resurrection after the Messiah. Paul writes well when he juxtaposes these two states of existence. Death, he says, is gain because in death, we are Christ's prize, his bounty and we gain unity with him eternally. Death may hurt those who we leave, but it is not to be feared or avoided; it is natural and thus set right again by Christ's resurrection as it was intended to be from the very beginning of time.
To Live is Christ
The more vital piece of Paul's attitude toward his ministry is this portion: while living, we are to be the arbiters of the Kingdom of God. Consistently, Jesus points his followers back to this mission and back to the focus of the Kingdom. When asked about the end of days, he reminds them that now is the time to act; now is where their focus should be.
So too should we contemporary Christians be focused on the now. There is truly no shortage of Kingdom-bringing for us to accomplish here in our world. I only want to encourage those that do work towards this Kingdom reality that there is life in your work. This life - this Christ-life that we participate in - is manifest in small ways, in daily ways and it is always followed by peace in the soul. We were built to be a part of Christ's Kingdom and so there is a settling in us when we act in accord to our intended nature.
Go Forward
So, in light of these wise words from our older brother, Paul, let us go forward in our week remembering that this is the attitude to have towards our individual ministries. And what is your ministry? It is your life; your day-to-day interactions, your example and spiritual foot-print that you leave behind. Go and face this ministry with the fact in mind that when we die, it is all to our benefit because we will be with Christ. More immediately important, though, we are to live as Christ's. Reflect on how you're doing with this; is this your attitude? Do you fear death? Are you living as Paul did, with the mission of Christ's message as your motivator?
peace,
C.M.
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