I’m really enjoying a new Bible study book by a gal I’ve never used before: Joy! A Bible Study on Philippians For Women by Keri Folmar. Some of her questions in regards to Phil. 1:21, “For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain”, have really had me thinking a lot about what it means when we say we are a Christian…when we say Jesus is “in our hearts”. It’s so beautiful when we look at what Scripture says to describe those who are saved.
We have “gained Christ and are found in Him” (Phil.3:8-9), we are “hidden in Christ” (Col. 3:1-4), “crucified with Christ and I no longer live, Jesus Christ now lives in me” (Gal.3:20), we are “not our own, we are bought at a price“ (I Cor. 6:19-20), we are a “new creation and the old has passed away and the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17), we have a “new nature…a new self” (Col. 3:9), we have been “set free from sin and become slaves of God” (Romans 6:22), and we are “daughters of the King” (2 Cor. 6:18)! “He has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves” and “In Him we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Col. 1:13-14)
Are you smiling yet? Are you standing in awe that a holy God would reach down and awaken our hearts to cry out to Him, to cling to Him, to fall in love with Him?!!!!! I can’t help but think that the more we realize what it means to be saved by God, what it means to be a Christian - a Christ follower - the more we realize that it’s not about a moment in time…it’s about every moment of time belonging to Christ. He’s not just a part of our lives..He IS our life (Col. 3:4)! Only then can we even begin to grasp, begin to comprehend and, with growing confidence, begin to echo with Paul, “to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
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