For me, to live is Christ, (Phil. 1:21).
Consider this another part of my “How to increase your happiness” thoughts. I have started teaching through Paul’s letter to the Philippians at our church. This week I am going to focus on this little verse in chapter one that summarizes Paul’s philosophy of life. Another way of translating the text is, “For me, living is Christ”. I am going to teach this using a little tool that I hope helps people figure out how to apply this principle in their own lives. I call it “The Blank and the Box”.
Everyone has a philosophy that shapes their life. Many have no clue what it is, but a careful examination by an objective observer could easily identify what that philosophy is. In todays text, imagine that instead of the word “Christ” there was a blank. “For me to live is ________.” What is placed in that blank defines our philosophy of life. For some people the blank could be filled by a dollar sign. “For me to live is $.” For others it might be power. My hunch is that for many men and women in our culture the blank would be occupied by the word “pleasure”. The preoccupation with sex, drugs, or alcohol is an expression of this philosophy, again often without a consciousness of this reality.
You would think that when a man or woman understands the good news about Jesus that the blank would be filled, as it was in Paul’s case, by the word “Christ”. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. In his letter to the Corinthian church (the first one) Paul refers to some of the believers as being “carnal”. The Greek word is sarxinos, which could be translated “fleshly” “worldly” or “carnal”. It refers to Christians who have something other than Christ in the blank. What truly is in our “blank” determines the level of joy in our lives. If you want to be happier and have more joy in your life, make sure “Christ” is in the “blank”.
Another way of looking at this truth is to think about a box. What is in the box is the most important thing in your life. A friend of mine, Bob Buford, wrote a best-selling book titled “Half-time”. He tells the story of how during the first half of his life money was in the box. He was not only a Christian during this time, he was a Christian leader. The tragic loss of his only child threw him into a crisis that made him examine his life carefully. He decided he needed to get money out of the box and Christ into the box. He began to pursue significance instead of security. God has used him in powerful ways since that day. God has also used his book to impact millions of lives. The question we need to ask ourselves is this: “What is in the box?” Our immediate response is probably to say, “Of course Christ is in the box.” But I would challenge you to carefully examine whether this is true.
The blank and the box. What is in your blank? What is in your box? The answer to these questions will shape the course of your life and measure of your joy.