There's a story of a pastor who was visiting one of the elderly ladies of the congregation who was nearing the end of her life. As he went to visit her in the hospital, he wanted to make sure that she was okay spiritually. And so he said, "It seems as though you might be near your end. If something happened to you, do you know where you would be if you died tonight?" And in all seriousness, the elderly woman looked at her pastor and said, "Well, of course pastor! If I died tonight I knew I would be at the funeral home!" Well, of course she misunderstood her pastor a little bit and thankfully, by God's grace, she knew she would be in heaven, where in fact she is now. 

That reminds me of my first time with this kind of situation. I was just a rookie, an intern, still in school, wet-behind-the-ears, and I was asked to visit one of the veteran members of the congregation. And when I went to see him, he was all skin and bones and clearly near the end of his life. And so I gave him encouragement from God's Word. I reminded him of our Savior Jesus' forgiveness and the hope of life in heaven. And I asked him, "Mr. Croker, do you believe this?" And with all the strength that he had remaining, he was able to motion and to mutter, "I'm confident." And that was all he did and said. 

That's exactly the way the apostle Paul felt. When he was in prison in Rome and writing to the Philippian Christians, he wasn't sure what the future was going to hold. Maybe he'd be released from prison, but maybe he would stay there. Maybe he would die or even be martyred for his faith. And yet, he was torn between the two. He wanted to go on living to serve Christ and to share Christ, but he also wanted to be in heaven, which is better by far. And so he summed up those profound thoughts with this great statement, "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" (Philippians 1:21). This is true for all Christians and it's true for you. 

Do you know someone who is sick, or suffering, or who has cancer? Someone who is dying? Maybe those descriptions even apply to you. What an incredible comfort, what great joy to know that whether we live or die, we can live here for Christ or we get to live with Christ, which is better by far. That great truth is something that gives us not only joy, but just like Mr. Croker, it gives us confidence. 

If you're looking for more videos like this, we have hundreds of videos to offer. Just visit our website, yourtimeofgrace.org and then join us tomorrow as we take another look at Philippians and the great joy we have in our Christian lives.