“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be
ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be
exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ
and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:20-21 NIV
The context of Philippians 1:20-21 is of Apostle Paul
being in the chains for the Gospel of Jesus Christ but Philippians 1:20-21 is still the same kind
of the hope of God (1 Peter 1:3-9) that Christians need to have
in today’s culture. This is because many of them are falling away because of
every kind of suffering they need to go through as followers of Jesus Christ (Matthew 16:24-27), or they choose Him to be
some kind of a magical genie to live comfortable and satisfying lives. However,
the truth is that He is not a magical genie, who makes our lives comfortable
and satisfied, because He urges us to go through narrow and hard road if we
want to have eternal life (Matthew 7:13-14). The main reason for this
is that most of us think everything is about us and believe that God has
spread His love throughout the world, to live our lives that we want and
bring us back into eternal kingdom of heaven. I was kind of like that while I
was in New York. This was because I feel that I want to be satisfied and happy
by inviting my friends to my important events of celebration, such as my 21st,
22nd and Baptism. After a while, I realized that everything is
actually for Jesus Christ. Colossians 1:15-18 points out that Jesus is
the perfect image of God and he was crucified so that He has been able to be
the firstborn among the dead and he might gain supremacy over everything,
including us. This is because all of us have been created by God to be His
image (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and
sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30)
Secondly, Philippians 1:20-21 reminds us that we need
to be so passionate for Jesus Christ, that we would be willing to sacrifice
ourselves to do everything for Him and for His eternal kingdom. This is because Romans 12:11 states, “Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the
Lord.” However, these does not mean that we must keep our spiritual
routines that we do everyday, even though we are very tired. It is good to read
the word of God and pray daily as we can but we are not meant to do them
legally or self-righteously. To be honest, I was like that few weeks ago or
confused between self-righteousness and devotion. I was so passionate for Jesus
Christ that I used to sleep very late around 1-2 am because of prayer and
Bible-reading and reading other online devotionals. In addition, I try to wake
up early as well like 7 am to write devotionals. Nonetheless, I realized that I
was doing too much that I was not able to wake up around 7-8 am because of
tiredness. Therefore, I decided to divide prayer requests that I need to pray
for, so that I can wake up early to write devotionals. Nonetheless, I am still struggling
at the moment but I feel that I am walking by the Spirit of God (John 14:15-27). Following Jesus Christ by
obeying the Holy Spirit is the most important of all because the word of God
declares, “Those who belong to Christ
Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by
the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited,
provoking and envying each other.” (Galatianns 5:24-26)
“For through the
law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who
loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for
if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for
nothing!” (Galatians 2:19-21)
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