{"id":981,"date":"2019-01-22T17:07:04","date_gmt":"2019-01-22T06:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/?p=981"},"modified":"2019-01-23T15:14:51","modified_gmt":"2019-01-23T04:14:51","slug":"i-want-to-be-with-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/2019\/01\/i-want-to-be-with-the-lord\/","title":{"rendered":"I Want to be With the Lord!"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

\u201cI want to be with the Lord<\/strong>!<\/span>\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

These are the words of an 84-year-old friend. They are stirring, sobering, and admirable words. Yet, they raise some issues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

I often wonder why it takes age, aches, pains, and failing health for us to find this as our true desire and utter these words. I equally wonder why the idea of \u201cliving Christ\u201d is viewed as a post mortem<\/em> event.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Paul shows something of this conflict. He writes: \u201c<\/span>For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I am <\/em>to live on<\/em> in the flesh, this will mean <\/em>fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose<\/strong>. But I am hard-pressed from both directions,<\/em> having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that<\/em> is very much better; yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. And convinced of this, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith, so that your proud confidence in me may abound in Christ Jesus through my coming to you again<\/span>.\u201d (Philippians 1:21-26)<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

What can we learn from these words?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

First<\/em>, the obvious lesson is that we should desire<\/strong><\/span> to be with Christ. This should be part of who we are as Christians. This desire should be felt and expressed tangibly from the moment we know Christ. It should not be a desire expressed only because of age or failing health.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Second<\/em>, we must understand that living or dying, our life is<\/em><\/strong><\/span> Christ. Jesus is Emmanuel \u2013 God with us. He is with us now through the Holy Spirit. The work we do on earth is His<\/em> work, empowered and directed by His<\/em> Spirit. We are His<\/em> temple (1 Peter 2:5). The goal of our work should be that which is acceptable to God through Jesus.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Third<\/em>, the gain of which Paul speaks is that of meeting Jesus face to face. Currently, we see through the \u201cglass darkly\u201d as the King Jim phrases it. Then, we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12).<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Christians need to appreciate the correlation in these points. To understand Paul\u2019s obvious conflict, we need to unpack the order of his words. Note that Paul does not say \u2018life is gain\u2019 and \u2018death is Christ\u2019. It seems as though that is the way most understand these verses. Rather, Paul shows that fulfilling his life and calling <\/em><\/span>is<\/strong><\/span> Christ<\/em>. Understood aright, Paul is arguing that death does not usher in something different, but rather more of the same in greater degree. His gain is also Christ<\/em>. Death is the realisation of the fullness of Christ. The barrier of sin is torn down completely and the totality of our relationship with God in Christ can be enjoyed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

It is important to understand Paul\u2019s words, as some have tended to look down upon this life. It is considered a \u2018treading of water\u2019 until better things come. However, if we understand Paul aright, our life here is Christ<\/em>. Paul was happy to postpone the \u201cgain\u201d and continue to live \u201cChrist\u201d in order that he may serve the brethren by showing them how to live Christ<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cprogress\u201d and \u201cjoy\u201d in the faith.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Our times are in God\u2019s hands. Our desire should always be to live C<\/em>hrist. However, we should not be fooled into thinking that our life here is not Christ. How can we, living Christ every moment, encourage, support, progress, or bring joy in the faith to the brotherhood?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How will you live Christ<\/em> in this day; in this moment?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI want to be with the Lord!\u201d These are the words of an 84-year-old friend. They are stirring, sobering, and admirable words. Yet, they raise some issues. I often wonder why it takes age, aches, pains, and failing health for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15,47,6,3],"tags":[179,132,215,162,214],"class_list":["post-981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-warfare","category-church","category-reform","category-theology","tag-apostle","tag-christ","tag-contentment","tag-death","tag-paul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2V1tu-fP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=981"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":990,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/981\/revisions\/990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reformationministries.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}