To Die Can Be Gain

 

Since it opened in 1937, more than 2,000 people have jumped off of the Golden Gate Bridge in an attempt to commit suicide. The jumps have become so commonplace that authorities have placed signs on the bridge that read: “THE CONSEQUENCES OF JUMPING FROM THIS BRIDGE ARE FATAL AND TRAGIC.” They have even included a phone number that one could call for immediate counseling. They are desperate to get people to reconsider their decision to jump! Of all the people who have jumped from the bridge over the years, less than 1% have survived. Additionally, we are told that all of the survivors share a common trait: as soon as they went over the rail, they immediately regretted their decision. One man said that as soon as his hands left the railing, he knew he had made a terrible mistake. He did not want to die. This is a hard reminder of the way sin works. Sin leads to regret. If you are tempted to do something, you know you should not do…stop! There are alternatives! The sin you are about to commit will surely lead to regret (Proverbs 14:12; 2 Corinthians 7:10). The Lord wants us to reconsider our decision to jump. “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). If you have done things that you regret, come back to the Father’s House! He longs to embrace penitent children! “…And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him” (Luke 15:11-24). We don’t have to live with regret. We don’t have to jump! There is a way of escape.

[Philippians 1:12-30] A million things could have been going through Paul the apostle’s mind as he sat in his prison cell around A.D. 61. But as he penned a letter to some faithful brethren in Philippi, he had hardly finished his greeting when he wrote: For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (v.21). One might ask, “How does one become fully devoted to God as Paul was, even in the face of such adversity?” Let’s look at some aspects of Paul’s life that might help us better understand why he clung to the cross of Christ with such zeal. Paul was poor in spirit, realizing how lost he had been without Christ. He wrote: “…Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Timothy 1:15). He didn’t think more of himself than he should have but gave the Lord all the credit for any good that was in him or was done by him. Though he realized where he lacked, he didn’t let shortcomings or past mistakes hinder him from doing what he could for God. Paul endeavored to forget the past and press on towards the eternal goal of heaven (Philippians 3:12-14). Paul did not place too much importance on the things on earth. Paul wrote, “If then you have been raised with Christ (baptized into Christ; Romans 6:1-11) seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). 

Does Christ live in you? One cannot say, “For me to live is money, and to die is gain” * “For me to live is ambition, and to die is gain” * “For me to live is pleasure, and to die is gain” because death for these people is loss. Can you say that if you live on in the flesh, you are living for Christ? Death will only be gain (rewarded) for those who live for Christ. Are you assured that if you died this very day you will go to be with the Lord forever? Paul knew what his horrible fate would have been without Jesus …the same fate you and I face. There is a way of escape from hell. Don’t die with regret. Jesus saves!