Why are You Living?
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. —Philippians 1:21
To those who don’t believe in God, life on earth is all there is, and so it is natural for them to strive for this world’s values: money, popularity, power, pleasure, and prestige.
What does life mean to you? Why are you living? What is your great purpose in life?
Are you living for money and possessions (clothes, houses, cars, property)? If so, what do you do in a few years when you die—if you escape accident or disease? What do you do if you lose it? When that day comes—and it is coming, there is nothing in heaven or earth that can stop it—if you have lived for money, what good will it do you?
Are you living for comfort (a good job, a nice place to live, plenty to eat, and enough money to do what you desire now and at retirement)? If so, what happens when disease or accident or tragedy strikes or old age comes? And one or the other is coming. It cannot be stopped. If you have lived for comfort, what good will it do you?
Are you living for a position? If so, what do you do when you are edged out, removed, demoted, transferred, bypassed, face disease or accident? What good will position do you?
Are you living for family? If so, what do you do when the family has transferred, moved away, or when the various family members die? And it happens to everyone of us. What good will family do you when you face Christ?
Are you living for recognition, honor, popularity, recreation, gratification, sensuality—whatever? What do you do when you face the crises of life and then in the end come face to face with death? At that moment if not before, what good will anything on this earth do you?
For believers, those of us who have committed our lives to following Christ, we can confidently say that dying would be even better than living, because in death we will be removed from worldly troubles, and be able to see Christ face to face. If you’re not ready to die, then you’re not ready to live. Make certain of your eternal destiny; then you will be free to serve—devoting your life to what really counts, without fear of death. My hope and prayer is that you are living to develop eternal values and to tell others about Christ.
