For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21
I stood one day in a funeral home in Saint John, beside the casket of a man who only a few days earlier was worth, in monetary terms, in excess of $7 billion. This wealthy man had spent his life in building a business empire and in making smart business deals. All of his life he had seen his wealth grow and accumulate, his enterprises spreading out into more and more areas of Eastern Canada and the New England states. For K.C. Irving to live was gain. But for him to die – as far as we know – was loss. In his beautiful casket I saw no sign of the seven billion dollars that had just slipped from his lifeless grasp in a moment of time. As he closed his lengthy and, from an earthly standpoint, profitable sojourn here on earth and began his eternity, he left every penny behind.
How unlike K.C. Irving is the humblest child of God, the weakest and most stumble-prone Christian! Regardless of what we have accumulated here, we will forfeit all that we have gained, unless we have invested it in Heaven’s bank. But moving through the grim reaper’s clutches into eternity is never, for any Christian, a loss. How lovely and comfortable is your life here? In Heaven, the joys and delights will forever ban from your memory the most pleasant elements of your earthly existence. How rewarding and fulfilling have been your achievements and employment on this mortal plane? You will gladly forever forget it all in the great employment of Heaven, that of worshiping and adoring the Lamb and exploring the riches of His grace.
I hope when I die that someone takes the time to place a keyboard on my coffin. I have appreciated being able these many years to make my living as a writer. It has been what I always wanted to do, from the time I was a boy. I have been able to feed my family and care for those I love, to make a life for myself here. The pay has been satisfactory. There have been enough exciting and fascinating incidents and occasions to fill a fairly fat book. (Maybe I should write one.) But I can’t help but wonder how much more thrilling it will be to forever enjoy the Heavenly atmosphere and the gain that physical death brings.
How much will we gain by dying? Far more than we ever could by living! -Jim MacIntosh