Paul - The Unending Worshipper

The possibility of death seems to sharpen a person's priorities, values, and perceptions.
When time is short, 'the unimportant' begins to fade.
What really matters?
What does it all mean?

And there sat Paul.

In prison.  Alone.  Rumors of his own execution swirling, if not amongst the guards that watched him twenty-four hours a day, then, at the very least, in his own mind.

With death a very real possibility, he ponders a question that lingers in the back of our minds.

What does it mean to live?
What does it mean to die?

These are the 'big questions' that we bury underneath grocery lists, car repairs and office deadlines. These are the questions that we never stop - or avoid stopping - to ask.

Paul´s answer?

To live? Christ.
To die? Gain.

Paul, in two short phrases, sums up what it means to live this kind of ´in-between existence´ we call Christianity. We are to live in eager expectation of our heavenly inheritance (Philippians 3 v 20-21) while, at the same time, being firmly fixed on ensuring that ´Your Kingdom comes, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.´ (Matthew 6 v10)