The apostle Paul was blessed with tremendous insight into the truth. I think that through him, more than any other person, we get an understanding of the significance of Jesus’ worth. I would rank the apostle John as 1a.

Paul’s words are so spot-on that we can feel the intensity of the need to be in Jesus. Paul inspires us to want to immerse ourselves in and experience the vibrancy that is the source of life itself, never wanting to let go.

“To live is Christ,” Paul says (Philippian 1: 21). That means that nothing else matters, for without Christ there is zero. But with and in Christ are eternal life and the correct way to live it.

That knowledge convicts and motivates us to want to personally know Christ. We want to know what He knows and feels; not just objectively, but in terms of subjectively knowing. That means welcoming the opportunity to be filled with agape love; having a willingness to accept sufferings that will come for the sake of the gospel; and getting to share in and feel the power of Christ’s faith to help overcome sin, die to sin, and be resurrected into the absence of sin.

In the light of such achievement, with Christ as guide, it’s no wonder that all worldly gain is rendered into meaninglessness. Anything that keeps us from having Christ just isn’t worth having. We know that with Christ as our life, Paul’s assessment in Philippians 3: 7-9 rings true for us too.

“Whatever were gains to me, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him.”

Paul would have us know that “To live is Christ” is to put Him first in all things; glorifying Him in all that’s said and done. It is to breathe Him, and in turn, gain and reflect His life.