How can you long and look for a healer unless you know suffering? It is your afflictions that guide you to the gates of heaven. It is your suffering that often leads you to Scripture. Hear Joni speak on why she’s so grateful to have learned this lesson.
“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and that is Philippians 1:21. Probably very familiar to you and it is to me too. Back when I was a teenager, when I first came to Jesus, I underlined that verse in my high school Bible. I memorized it. I wrote it on the covers of my textbooks as a witness to my classmates. I wanted everybody at Woodlawn Senior High School to know that “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” And I meant it – or at least as much as I was able to mean it. Way back then, Philippians 1:21; I guess it translated for me like this: “If someone sneers at my Christianity, I’ll stick up for you, Jesus. I’ll live for you in the hallways of my school: I’ll watch out for the underdog, I won’t curse, I’ll stick to moral standards when I’m with my boyfriend [Yeah, how long did that last?].” But then I graduated from high school and [as you know] shortly afterward, I broke my neck. Paralyzed in a wheelchair, I realized that I knew nothing about that Bible verse. What does it mean, “to live is Christ?” I had no problem understanding that to die would be gain – I mean, I couldn’t stand being a quadriplegic! I wanted out.
But after my time in the hospital and in rehab, after a few years passed, those words from Paul began to mean something fresh and new, something far different than what I imagined as a 15-year-old. Now, I credit a lot of that to my Christian friends who were praying for me. They were patient with me. They loved me in such practical ways. They would flip open the Bible to Paul’s epistles, especially his letter to the Philippians. I mean, he was writing that book from jail. He was writing Philippians 1:21 after countless floggings, and at least one stoning, and even a shipwreck. His body is full of pain, and he has experienced disappointments. So, it’s clear from reading Philippians that Paul needs Jesus. The deep suffering that he has weathered has increased his need of Jesus. And it is in his need, that Paul ate, drank, and slept eternal life in Christ. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, and the life of his life. And this was his secret to contentment, even after all the afflictions he endured.
And as my friends helped me work through the book of Philippians, I realized, finally, my desperate need of Christ. I began to eat, drink and sleep Jesus. He became the soul of my soul and the life of my life [unlike the way he was in high school]. Now, I couldn’t have said those things before I suffered [you know, back in high school], but my quadriplegia utterly threw me into the arms of my Savior. Suffering does that. It makes us say, “Oh, make no mistake, for me to live is Christ.” How would we know, how would we really know our Savior unless we realized we needed saving? How would we reach out to our deliverer unless we saw that [oh my goodness] we need delivering? How could we long and look for a healer, unless we knew sin, and sickness, and suffering? It is our afflictions that guide us to the gates of heaven. It is our suffering that often leads us to scripture. And I’m so grateful I learned that lesson. And so, I have the Word of God, I got my Christian friends, and my quadriplegia to thank when it comes to saying that for me to live really is Jesus Christ. Psalm 119 says, “[God], you are my strength, you are my shield, my helper, my hope, and my song.” So today, friend, don’t despise your afflictions. They can help you to say, “For me, to live is Christ” – and you will truly mean it.
© Joni and Friends