“I am hard pressed between living and dying. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.” (Philippians 1:23)
Are you eager to die? That probably sounds like an absurd question. After all most people assume the whole point of life is to avoid death and live as long as possible. That idea is partially true. We should take care of ourselves and not live reckless and pointless lives. But surprisingly enough, we should have a bit of a death wish. Not because we are miserable and wish to avoid suffering, but because our desires for Christ should so far exceed our desires for anything this life offers that we long to be with him forever.
The Apostle Paul seemed to wrestle with this more than most. He was literally torn between staying on earth and serving Christ; or dying and being with Christ. We desperately need to emulate Paul’s mindset and see our lives as something to be spent for God’s Glory and Christ’s kingdom. And we should rejoice at the thought of our Lord calling us home when our service on earth is complete.
This type of mindset will only be accomplished if we daily fight to loosen ourselves more and more from the enslavements of this temporal world. In many ways this is why God ordains so much suffering for us. It loosens us from the world and drives us to him as we are frequently reminded that this world is passing and true joy only comes from an eternal relationship with him.
Please don’t misunderstand me; the day of our death should be God’s call rather than ours. He decides when our service ends, not us. But with that said, a healthy death wish should be the ultimate goal of all true Christians. Though this might sound insane to the world, Christians are not of this world. Our true home resides in Heaven from where we “await a Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord.” (Philippians 3: 20)
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