"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain." - Philippians 1:21
Car communication is often hilarious. Yesterday, I was stuck behind a sweet ride going twenty-five miles per hour in a forty-five zone. Their license plate said, "Hustln". Get it? Irritatingly slow-moving car (or was it a dangerous car?) that proclaims to be hustling!
Well, even if you don't get the irony with that license plate, it's usually the bumper stickers that make us laugh anyway. I've seen a bumper sticker that said, "I Go Where I'm Towed". Since I own two cars with a combined 525,000 miles, I really chuckled at that one. Or how about this? "As long as there are tests, there will always be prayer in schools!" And then there's the municipal vehicle with this: "Touching wires causes death: $200 fine".
But every once in a while, I'll see a bumper sticker that makes me laugh and also compels me to talk back to the driver of the car. Like yesterday, the bumper sticker said, "I'd rather be at Camp McDowell." And even though I've been to Camp McDowell and was richly blessed by my Cursillo Retreat there, I couldn't restrain myself, so I said, "But you're not!"
I mean, is there anyone out there reading this right now who would rather be someplace other than where you are? Maybe you're at work, and you'd rather be, well, anyplace else. Maybe you're in school taking a test, (then you shouldn't be reading this right now!), and you'd rather be at lunch or P.E.! Maybe you're in Thursday, and you'd rather be at Saturday. Maybe you're in Detroit, and you'd rather be in Florida. But you're not!
This is exactly what the Holy Spirit inspired St. Paul to address in today's Bible verse. A lot of people were losing a lot of life by wishing it away, saying "I'd rather be, well, elsewhere." So St. Paul responded by basically saying, "I understand. In fact, my situation is so bad right now that I'm tempted to just want to die. To die would be gain! But since I'm here and not somewhere else, I might as well make the best of it. So Jesus, do your thing through me. To live is Christ!"
In essence, Paul was staking his claim on Jesus's promise, which were Jesus's last words recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, "I am with you always, even to the ends of the earth!"
So, you may want to be someplace else, but you're not. And Jesus is with you right where you are. So, do like Paul, and appeal to Jesus to do his thing through you. Then as Jesus does something wonderful, the next thing you know, you'll probably be glad you're there.
Bumper sticker: "I'd rather be right where I am, right here with Jesus!"
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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