To Live Is Christ

In the past month or so, I've had the sober privilege of preaching and/or leading worship in four wakes, and this has led me to reflect even more than usual on the meaning of life and death for Christians.

My reflections finally led me to that well-known chapter, Romans 8, where the apostle Paul says in verse 32:

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

How do we know that God is good? The first answer we usually think of relates to a particular blessing we've received from God: a good grade, a good job, a happy family, food on the table, safety and health, etc. We say, "Ahh, thank God for ____. He's so good!" Well, there's nothing wrong of course with acknowledging that the nice and pleasant things in life are a gift from God.

But our theology needs to be deeper. Because when "tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword" (v.35) -- or in our particular case, the death of a loved one -- hits us, we have to be able to say just as confidently "God is good."

In any circumstance the Christian can be assured of God's love because we don't need circumstances to prove God's love. He has already proven it by giving up his greatest treasure: his only begotten Son. Jesus Christ was crucified -- executed in the most excruciating and degrading way imaginable -- so that "whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) In giving us Christ, the Father has already given us all good things, because all good things are summed up in Christ.

So, whatever else God may decide to give us, or not give us, we can heartily say, "In Christ, God has already given me every good thing. For 'He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?'"

This afternoon, I'll be leading my church's youth in singing "To Live Is Christ." I think this time I'll particularly enjoy it.