Win or Lose?

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

So often we encounter situations in our lives which are win/lose. For me to win, somebody else has to lose. Or vice versa. Or sometimes, nobody’s going to come out on top, and it’s lose/lose. But the best scenario is win/win, and that is what the apostle Paul is talking about in Philippians 1. To live is Christ is to win, and to die is gain, which is an even bigger win.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” Why should we listen to him? Because Bonhoeffer was willing to pay the ultimate price for following Jesus. During the Second World War, he left the safety of exile in America and returned to suffer with his people and fight for liberation from the yoke of the Nazis, who eventually caught and executed him shortly before the end of the war. His choosing life meant literally embracing death. For most of us it won’t involve physical martyrdom. But Bonhoeffer himself knew – and calls us in turn – to embrace the challenge that if you haven’t found something worth dying for, you haven’t found something worth living for.

In John Chrysostom’s final sermon, which led to his exile and death in 407 AD, he thundered: “The waters are raging and the winds are blowing but I have no fear for I stand firmly upon the rock. What am I to fear? Is it death? Life to me means Christ, and death is gain. Is it exile? The earth and everything it holds belongs to the Lord. Is it loss of property? I brought nothing into this world and I will bring nothing out of it. I have only contempt for the world and its ways and I scorn its honours.”

Lord, help me to align my perspective on life to yours as illustrated by Paul, Bonhoeffer and Chrysostom. Amen!