Life and death

What do you want out of your life?
What do you want to do before you die?
What would you regret if you died tomorrow?

At a first glance these may seem like very morbid questions but bare with me. I was challenged by these questions a few months ago when studying Philippians. Paul says ‘to live is Christ and to die is gain’. Well I really struggled with this concept. Ive always wanted to teach, since I was about 5 years old, and so dying after my training but before I have a full time teaching job wasn’t something I thought of as gain. I just wasn’t in a position to see dying as beneficial, I wanted to live a full and happy life and achieve all my goals (also Ive always wanted to receive a telegram from the queen when I reach 100). Anyway, Id forgotten about it but when preparing to go to Kenya the idea resurfaced. Going to a county that’s not safe makes you think a bit more about life and death. But this time when I started thinking I realised that if I went out there and something did happen then it would be an enormous gain! I would die serving God and because of Jesus Christ I would be able to enter into eternal life in the presence of him. Now Im not saying I want to die or that I expected something to happen but I just felt the need to prepare myself. It also made me realise how much I hold onto material or worldly things. Jesus says to store your treasures in heaven and to fix your eyes on Gods priorities, yet, I just seem to be worried about what I want. When I was baptised I said I wanted to live my life for him so that’s what Im doing. I haven’t got it sorted but Im on the right road.
What’s the most important thing in your life? Have you got your priorities straight?