In Philippians (Paul’s letter to his fellow Christians in the Macedonian city of Philippi) the Apostle Paul shared many of his deepest thoughts and feelings. Contemplating his own mortality, he wrote:
"For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living - - -, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain - - - -."
Between the lines, he’s saying, “I’d like to stick around to help you out, but being with Jesus would be even better.”
In 1966, when I was a young pastor, I became good friends with a church member whose name was Urban Jones, “But all my friends call me ‘Jonesy’.” He was in his mid-40’s and was struggling with a critical medical condition. The circulation in his legs was shutting down, endangering his life. At a large teaching hospital in Philadelphia, the surgical team performed a delicate operation called “an Aortic-Femural graft,” implanting teflon arteries to open the circulation to his legs. The surgery ultimately failed, leading somehow to uremic poisoning which was to claim Jonesy’s life.
When we saw that his condition was rapidly, relentlessly worsening, I went to visit him. I must have wondered out loud why all this was happening to him. He said, “Pastor, don’t even bother questioning. You know that, when you play cards, you are sometimes dealt a bad hand. There’s nothing you can do about it. What really counts is how well you play it. So when it comes to moments like this, you just put your faith where it belongs and take what you get.”
“Jonesy”, I said with admiration, “that’s very courageous on your part.” “No, it’s not courage. You need courage when you can change the situation. I can’t change the situation. This is simply resignation. But if my faith as a Christian is true — and I believe it is — then I can’t lose. For if I live, the Lord is with me. And if I die, I’ll be with the Lord.”
With only a few days left to live, Jonesy was reminding me that we and the Lord are inseparable. St. Paul reminded the Christians in Rome about that same truth:
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Inseparable! The Psalmist wrote:
"---- in thy presence is fullness of joy: at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."
