To Live is Christ

My sweet, amazing, God fearing and loving husband preached on this today. Very convicting. He spoke about the things that define us and how they change. Like right now, the baby defines him. He thinks about her and what life will be like with her all of the time. Paul says, "To live is Christ and to die is gain". Christ defines Paul. Whoa. Does Christ define me? That was a hard pill to swallow. How I desire for Christ to define me. Phillip asked the residents at the nursing home where he was preaching if they are afraid to die. Most of them said no but I suspect that they are a little afraid. I realized that I am not. I am afraid of how I might die but I am not afraid of dying and it is because Christ is on the other side of death. So it seems that i have the last part of the verse down but the first got me. He also talked about how we can't desire Christ and what's to come if we haven't tasted Him. "Taste and see that the Lord is good". We cannot desire what we have not tasted. He pointed out that Paul is living out the 2 greatest commandments: 1) Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and 2) Love your neighbor as yourself. He is living for Christ and desiring to be with Him and he is living because he loves his neighbors. Paul got it. He loved Christ with all that he had and Christ defined him. John Piper's spin on this verse is, "To live is Christ and to die is more Christ". Love it. If Christ is what you desire and what defines you then you lose nothing in death. "O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?"



I'll leave you with this question: What defines you?