It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. – Philippians 1:20.

Many Christians divide their lives into two compartments. One compartment they label “sacred,” and the other compartment they label “secular.” The sacred part of life consists of what they do on Sundays and when they are praying, witnessing, or reading their Bible during the other days of the week. The secular part of life involves nearly everything else; work, recreation, family life, sports, and so on. There is almost no connection between the two. Their lives are organized in the way Time magazine divides the news. Politics and business are in front; books come last. Along the way they fit in modern living, entertainment, and religion.

It is easy to understand how this happens. To a large extent Christians live in two worlds and divide their time accordingly. We labor in one world, and it is necessary to put much time into what is often mundane work just to make a living. At the same time we are citizens of heaven. We who were no people have become God’s people, and there is Christian work to do. Consequently, we begin to think that the Christian work is important and the other work is not. Many Christian people cherish the notion that God is honored only by their devotional life or by what they do on Sundays.

I do not believe this was true of any of the biblical writers. David was a deeply spiritual person and wrote beautiful psalms. But there is not a line of the Old Testament to suggest that he served God more as a poet than as the king of Israel, the one who fought the Lord’s battles. He honored God in what God gave him to do. Jesus Christ knew no division of his life, for everything he did pleased His heavenly Father. Jesus said, “I always do the things that are pleasing to him” (John 8:29).

So it was with Paul. Paul knew that the child of God is called to live all of life under the eye of his heavenly Father and to do all things to His glory. In 1 Corinthians Paul even says that Christians are to feed themselves to God’s glory: “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:31. Because of these truths Paul knew that Christians are to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” – Romans 12:1. In Philippians 1:20, Paul applies this thought to his own experience, noting that Christ will be exalted in his body whether by his life or his death.

We have seen in the other writings of the Apostle how this statement is an expression of Paul’s confidence in God. We must now go on to see what this means practically for the living of the normal Christian life.

To Be Continued

Adaptation of excerpts from James Montgomery Boice, Philippians: An Expositional Commentary.
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.