To Live Is Christ

Am I afraid to live the life of Paul?

Afraid to heed the Macedonian call?

I’m not afraid to take an open door

I fear a life that’s not worth dying for.

I say with Paul, without a care for pain:

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

I’m not afraid of what the world retorts.

Or swayed by what society exhorts.

With Paul, necessity is now my lot,

I go, for “woe is me if I preach not.”

Let earthly people think I’ve gone insane,

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

The average Christian life so often seems,

To be a life of comfort, fun and dreams.

But if you summarized your life like Paul,

Could you express his sentiments at all?

Away with earth – it’s promises are vain,

For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.

Ezra Brainard, December 2017