For Me to Live is Christ

by Peggy Brown

This is a picture of me with my Aunt Alma. She is a Godly woman who has delighted in Christ her whole life. Her life (even after a stroke made her unable to speak) has been a living praise to her Lord. Her speech has been seasoned with grace (I have never heard her utter an unkind word about anyone), and encouragement. Even in her 91^st year, she graces the staff at the nursing home with her smile and a kiss on the hand. I want to grow up to be just like her! Maybe knowing Alma is what drew my heart to this…

I’d like to share this quote from John Piper’s booklet The Dangerous Duty of Delight:

(Referring to Philippians 1:20-23) “Verse 23 makes this clear (that Paul thought death was gain). ‘My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better.’ That is what death does for Christians: It takes us into more intimacy with Christ. We depart and we are with Christ and that is gain. And when you experience death this way, Paul says, Christ is exalted in your body. Experiencing Christ as gain in your dying magnifies Christ. It is the essence of worship in the hour of death.

If you want to glorify Christ in your dying, you must experience death as gain. Which means Christ must be your prize, your treasure, your joy. He must be a satisfaction so deep that when death takes away everything you love-but gives you more of Christ-you count it gain. When you are satisfied with Christ in dying, He is gloried in your dying.

It is the same with life. We magnify Christ in life, Paul says, by experiencing Christ as our all-surpassing treasure. That’s what he (Paul) means in verse 21 when he says, ‘For me to live is Christ.’ We know this because in Philippians 3:8 Paul says, ‘I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ.’

So Paul’s point is that life and death, for a Christian, are acts of worship-they exalt Christ and magnify Him and reveal and express His greatness-when they come from an inner experience of treasuring Christ as gain. Christ is praised in death by being prized above life. And Christ is most glorified in life when we are most satisfied in Him even before death.” (emphasis mine)

I was so drawn to the thought that in order for my life, and ultimately my death, to exalt and magnify Christ I must make Him my prize, treasure and joy. He is to be my deep satisfaction, so much so that I can count it joy when I ONLY have more of Christ.

Piper goes on to say, “Christ is praised by being prized. He is magnified as a glorious treasure when He becomes our unrivaled pleasure.”

A wise woman once said “You are becoming the old woman you will be”, challenging me to concentrate on building good and loving character qualities into my life now so that when I am old, those qualities will be my “default mode”. In the same way, I am challenged to grow in prizing Christ, making Him my unrivaled pleasure so that I will glorify Christ throughout my life. I think Piper is saying that this is how I will come to glorify Christ at the time of my death; learn to glorify, treasure and prize Christ now so that He will be my delight now…and then. I will go from intimacy here to deeper intimacy with Him in Heaven. How cool is that?

Dear Lord Jesus, Thank you that you have provided all I need to walk in Your ways. I long to prize You and hold You as my unrivaled pleasure. Let me learn, step by step, how to treasure You and give you the place You deserve in my heart and my practice. You are amazing! Amen