“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” —Philippians 1:21

Ken Sparks is considered to be one of college football’s all-time greatest coaches. He started his coaching career in 1968 with his philosophy of, “It’s never about wins on the field, but the victories of the soul.” His primary goal in coaching was to impact young men with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and winning became a byproduct of that. While the Carson-Newman University head football coach was battling prostate cancer, which would ultimately take his life, someone asked him if he was afraid of dying. His response was just as stout as his record on the field:

“Everyone gets to die.”

It was Sparks’ faith in Jesus Christ and His resurrection life that gave him such poise in the face of death. We see a similar confidence in Paul’s outlook from a prison cell in Philippi, as he must know that at any moment a soldier could come in and escort him to his execution for preaching the gospel. It is in this tension, torn between two worlds, that the apostle pens the words: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (v. 21).

In his letter to the Philippians, Paul aims to encourage the church that there is always purpose to our pain, that our suffering has significance, and that death is not final. To this point, Paul had already suffered greatly in his missionary journeys. Beaten, stoned, persecuted, maligned, shipwrecked, and now in prison chains, he literally presented his body “as a living sacrifice” over and over again for the kingdom of God. He knows that his imprisonment is furthering the unchained, boundless message of Jesus: “What has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel” (v. 12).

Since the Philippians had seen God do so many amazing miracles of deliverance in Paul’s life among them in Philippi (Acts 16:11-40), it would have been easy for them to only associate God’s glory with personal deliverance from the problems rather than gospel dissemination through the problems. If the whole purpose of the Christian life is to bring glory to God instead of preserving or promoting self, then Paul could remain confident—even in his chains. His present circumstances were NOT just a discomfort or a disappointment to somehow get through, but a necessary vehicle that was driving the gospel to people and places it had yet never reached.

Everyone gets to die. But not everyone chooses to glorify Jesus in their hardships. What if you faced the problems in your life this week not just as problems to be delivered from, but circumstances that the gospel can be disseminated through? It is so easy for us to dictate to God how He can and cannot glorify Himself in our lives. Paul wisely left all that up to God. How about you?

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, you have been faithful in all things. Whether I am delivered from the suffering, or the message of Christ is disseminated through the suffering, I choose to face life with the assurance that you are good no matter what. I pray that none of my circumstances, or my attitude about them, would ever rob Jesus of the glory he is worthy of in and through them. In His name, Amen.

Questions for Personal Reflection and/or Group Discussion:

1. How do you generally tend to view suffering and death?
2. How would you describe Paul’s reaction to his imprisonment?
3. How do you think the Philippians might have felt about Paul’s imprisonment? How did Paul encourage them?
4. How did God use Paul’s imprisonment to work together for good? What can we do to remember this principle when we face difficulties in our own lives?
5. How can we use our own problems to encourage other believers this week?

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