True life in Christ means fully depending on him. Let suffering deepen your faith today.
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada. And when I first came to Christ, I underlined Philippians 1:21 in my high school Bible: “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” And I meant it [at least, as much as I was able to mean it]: like, I’ll stand up for you, Jesus, if someone sneers at my Christianity; I’ll stick to moral standards when it comes to my boyfriend – yeah, how long did thatlast, right? But then I broke my neck, which in turn made me realize that Paul’s words in Philippians meant more than I thought. Paul ate, drank, and slept eternal life in Christ. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, and the life of his life. I couldn’t have said that before I suffered. But my quadriplegia utterly threw me against the arms of my Savior where, previous to my accident, I only occasioned. Suffering does that. So today, don’t fault it – it can help you say, “For to me, to live is Christ.”
© Joni and Friends