TO LIVE IS CHRIST. TO DIE IS GAIN.

God the Creator, One that rules over all, keeping the very earth spinning and universe existing, chooses not to be some “cosmic Santa Clause” as Pastor Peter Haus would say, distant and out of reach, but desires to be close and in tune with His creation. We, the creation, have been given life. Breath. Existence. Purpose. Future. Not to stand by and see our years waste away but for the very function of glorifying the One that shaped us. With this life that our God has given we live and breathe. Live and love… We have life.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all existing as three-in-one and one-in-three, as the same Spirit, have given life to EVERYTHING. Everything around us has been created by this Creator. We live because of the breath that He has given and we live again because of the life that He gave up. There are two distinct moments where life is given and breath is taken in: at the moment we are born God breathes into us and fills us up with life; and, at the moment of the resurrection of our hearts when we accept Jesus as Savior, we are born-again. There are two moments of creation. In the beginning God creates us to live, exist, and experience this life, but when a point of understanding and acceptance is reached, we become a new creation through the death of Jesus. God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God, God in Man, create two distinct but inseparable moments where we become His creation.

We read in Philippians 1:21 that Paul writes, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Since life is given through breath and life is given by Christ, we breathe because of Christ. To live is Christ, but also, Christ is to live. We are not only a creation, but we are a new creation that lives this life to give EVERYTHING to our Creator. “To die is gain.” We not only die to our flesh when we become a new creation but to give our lives as the ultimate sacrifice is to give God back the very breath of life that He first gave us. Life is but a breath and breath is but one life that we’ve been given. It’s the beginning of nothing and the end of everything. We give everything for Christ and hold nothing back. TO LIVE IS CHRIST. TO DIE IS GAIN.