Jesus Christ, the Life!

“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. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.” – Philippians 1:20-26 NIV

The context of Philippians 1:12-26 is about Apostle Paul’s advancement for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the chains. Nonetheless, as I concentrate and meditate on Philippians 1:20-26, there is so much to learn from God through Apostle Paul, especially on Paul’s momentum of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I love that he is very serious about preaching it in everywhere that he possibly could. Although I do not get ultimate persecution for writing devotionals, I need to suffer in Christ as well from tiredness and fatigue, especially after I have eaten breakfast or brunch. This is because suffering in Christ makes us co-heirs with Christ of having eternal life (Romans 8:17). I am often willing to suffer my fatigue while I am writing devotionals but I always fail by not taking into practice. My Japanese friend, Taka Ino, reminded me the verse about weakness, which is 2 Corinthians 12:9. When Apostle Paul is becoming proud that he is better than everyone, God gave him a thorn—a messenger from Satan, to torment him. When Paul pleaded three times with the Lord to take it away from him, God said to him that His power is made perfect in weakness. Thus, Paul declared, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Hence, I should delight in my weakness too, so that Christ’s power can rest on me. However, I hope that I can overcome my fatigue through perseverance, especially when I am writing devotionals. 2 Peter 1:3-11 states that perseverance is required to do the will of God. It is the process to make us love the will of God—up to the point that sufferings do not matter to us. The main reason that we have to do the will of God is because of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus Christ declares, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)

Although I am kind of wanting to depart from this world to the kingdom of heaven as well, I literally want to live on this world until the end of the age because of Christian-writing. Christian-writing, such as devotionals, is so important to me as I am able to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ and about the kingdom of God through writing to everyone who has internet access. I know that writing devotionals is the will of God for me because I always sense the Spirit of God is empowering me to do so (Acts 1:8). In addition, 1 John 4:15 states, “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” Because the Holy Spirit is working powerfully within me, I have decided that I am going to put my every effort and try my best to become a Christian Writer (2 Peter 1:3-8). Furthermore, when I write devotionals, I write with enthusiasm, that I really want to make the word of God alive and to help others understand the Gospel—even though this is part of the Holy Spirit’s job (Hebrews 4:12) and my job is to simply point others to Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:11-21).