Life

According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.  For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
Philippians 1: 20-21 NKJV

It's a question that people have been asking for many a generation.  Just what is the meaning of this life which God has given us?  Whether you believe that God has indeed breathed into you the breath of life, you may still wonder just what this whole journey means.  Do we have a purpose?  If indeed we do, then what is it?  Are we simply here to kill time until the inevitable, or is  there something greater at stake?   As humans, we are prone to contemplate our surroundings and future, it's what we do.  As for myself, I often have wondered just what my purpose is.  Yes, my assurance is in Jesus Christ, but what were His plans for me in the here and now?   Am I to go forth and make disciples?  For this was the very command of Jesus to His own followers.  But what about me then?  I'm a follower of Jesus as well.  This may indeed be my purpose, that through me Christ Jesus may be glorified.  But I'm looking for that "meaning" of life that so many before me have sought as well.  I believe the apostle Paul  had the right idea in our attempts to answer this question is Philippians 1.  Most people will recognize Philippians 1:21 as a key verse to understanding what Paul was trying to get across in this passage.  For to Paul, the man whose life was forever changed one day on the road to Damascus, "To live is Christ, and to die is gain."  Just what was paul getting at here?  What was his life purpose he believed in so strongly?  Indeed, Pauls desire was for Jesus Christ who now lived through him {Galations 2:20} would be glorified either through life or in death.

For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.  And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries inn my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.  But when it pleased God, who seperated me from my mothers womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Galations 1: 13-17 NKJV

It is here, in Galations 1 where I believe that we see just what the purpose of Pauls life was to be.  Well, his purpose after his conversion.  For if in Philippians 1 he claimed that "To live is Christ and to die is gain," then we can gather from Pauls words here in Galations 1 that Paul had indeed found his purpose.  For as Paul tells us, it is through the grace of God in which He chose "To reveal His Son in me,  that I might preach Him among the Gentiles."  It seems to me that if someone had asked him about the meaning of life, that he would have explained it this way.  So what is our meaning of life?  I don't think people will stop contemplating this question anytime soon.  I can only answer this question for myself.  For my life is no longer tied to this world.  Jesus Christ has overcome the death which I once feared.  To me our lifes meaning is simple, that Jesus Christ be glorified through us.  For to live is as Christ who is within us, to die is to our gain as we will forever dwell with Him.

~Scott~