Which Would You Choose?
 

For most of us a time comes in our lives when we are faced with a difficult decision for which we are uncertain how to choose. Sometimes it is because we are faced with two “evils”. The difficulty in such cases arises due to our uncertainty as to which of the two evils will be the “lesser”. Occasionally, however, we are blessed to be faced with opposing choices, both of which are so good that it becomes difficult to decide which choice would be the best. In such cases we are “hard pressed from both directions.” This is exactly what Paul was feeling when he wrote the Philippian Christians from his imprisonment in Rome (Phil 1.21-26). He was hard-pressed between dying and living, between going home to be with the Lord or staying on in this life for the sake of fruitful labor. In reality it would not be Paul’s choice to make, for such decisions belong to God. Yet he certainly could ask God to grant him one or the other.

What I find intriguing about this passage is that Paul would have such difficulty in making a choice if it were his to make.  Think about it. If (1) you were in prison in your latter years of life, the last 30 of which consisted of constant  suffering from disease, beatings, imprisonments, stonings, etc., (2) you knew how glorious heaven was because you had seen it (2 Cor 12.1-6), and (3) you knew that’s where you were going, would the choice be difficult? If, as Paul says in ch.3, everything in life was rubbish compared to the surpassing value of knowing and gaining Christ Jesus his Lord, it seems that nothing would compare to finally going to live in his actual presence for all eternity.  That is what Paul lived for. That’s what Paul suffered all things for (Phil 3.8). All that Paul did was “in order that [he] might attain to the resurrection from the dead” (3.11). It seems the choice would be easy.

Yet, after having reached his full years in life, and after having done far more than can be expected of any one man, he is uncertain whether or not he would choose the very thing for which he lived and suffered, the very thing he longed for. He was hard-pressed between going home to be with the Lord and staying on in this life. Try to fathom, however, what lies behind Paul’s words in vs.21: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”  We can understand the “dying is gain” part.  In dying, Paul would attain all that he lived for. He would gain all that he suffered for. He would gain Christ!  But what about the "to live is Christ" part? What does he mean? Perhaps he means that while heaven would mean glory for Paul, continuing to live on earth would mean glory for Christ. To live would give Paul more time to glorify his Master. And that is what Paul really lived for. That is the one thing he would choose above being with Christ. It seems the choice was not so difficult after all (vs.25). What about you? Would there be such a choice to make in your life?

                                                                                                                                                                                                        © 2006 Randy Hohf