For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Philippians 1:21-22
English Standard Version
Many times, Christians like to focus on death as the gateway to happiness. Yet, if we have to die to have the good life, if we have to die to find hope, then is that really hope? Are we really any better off than everyone else? Waiting to die is not hope. Sure, heaven is full of good things. Heaven is a great place. However, this earth was gifted to us by God Himself, so there has to be hope here, too.
The truth is that there is! Christ actually brought us that hope. When He died on the cross, it wasn’t for us to have hope in heaven, it was for us to be able to live well with God, talking and walking daily with Him right here and now on earth. That’s the way things were always meant to be. Remember when Adam and Eve hid in the garden of Eden?
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Genesis 3:8-10
English Standard Version
So, when they heard God walking in the garden, their first response was to hide because they didn’t want God to see them. What we learn from this is that, if them hearing God walking around means that they are afraid He will see them, then that indicates it was normal for God to come and find them and spend time with them.
God spent time with them. He wanted to be with them.
God wants to spend time with you and talk with you. He wants to be with you. Sin entered the world, it pushed us away from God. Only after they sinned did Adam and Eve think it was best to distance themselves from God. That wasn’t God’s idea. He was ready to come spend time with them, but they didn’t want Him to.
When Paul speaks of life and death in Philippians, He is saying that both benefit us! To live is to get to spend more time here on this earth spending time walking and talking with God. We get to learn from Him, hang out with Him. And then in heaven we get to spend all day worshiping God and in awe of His glory. Both sound pretty awesome to me.
If living here on this earth is so good, how come 90% of Christians think that life is just to float by until you die and get the good stuff? Life is supposed to be good now. But, often, we’re so caught up with getting the better job, the better car, the better this and that instead of living life wanting to live with God and do what He thinks is best.
A lot of times, people are so focused on what they want that they completely forget that God has a better plan than they do. But, God is so much better at looking at the big picture and making an informed decision than we are…because He can actually see the big picture!
My challenge to you is to do this: stop right now and ask yourself how often you listen to God and obey what He says. It’s not always going to be easy, and there are times that I get it wrong and I don’t listen to Him. Yet, a willingness to admit that you messed up is half the battle! Humbly admit that you’re not perfect and ask for God’s help listening and obeying. Trust me, you’re not capable of doing this without His help, so you’d be smart to figure that out now rather than frustrating yourself now.
I don’t know where you are in life, what your future looks like, but I do know that whatever it is will be good (even if not our definition of good at all times) if we listen to and obey God. He’s the best advisor you can have. All we have to do is accept His advice.