For me, living is Christ

A friend asked me what it was for me to live, and was surprised when I answered him with words of the Apostle Paul recorded in his Letter to the Philippians: For me, living is Christ

My friend, who considers himself a practicing Catholic, asked me to forget Christ and the Bible and to give him a more human and more earthly concept, so, then, I was the one who asked him to define what it is to live for him, and He hastened to say that living is being happy while enjoying family and friends. And that's fine, but I can not be happy or enjoy the separated life of YHVH God, my heavenly and protective Father, of His Word that is guide and sustenance, and of His Son Jesus Christ, my elder brother and Lord, the incarnation of life.

For me, as for Paul, definitely, to live is Christ. The Lord Jesus is full life and abundant life, good life, eternal life. Jesus Christ declared himself to be life (John 14: 6). He said that he came to this world to give abundant life (John 10:10). He also claimed to be the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in him, even though he is dead, will live (John 11:25). He also declared that he who lives and believes in him will not die forever (John 11:26).

Life without a close and intimate relationship with the Creator and giver of life, through Christ, away from Him, is simply an earthly and transient existence, and it is like being dead in life. In the letter to the Ephesians, Paul tells the saints of the Church that God gave them life together with Christ, when they died in their crimes and sins.

It is for all this, and for much more, what I said to my friend, and I also say to you, without you asking, as Paul said, that for me to live is Christ.