For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Phil. 1:21
For Paul, to live was not money; to live was not possessions or wealth; to live was not religion or philosophy or knowledge; to live was not any good thing this world offers : for Paul, to live was Christ : to live was to know a Person and live for Him.
Whatever you make of the Christian life, of Church, of Christianity or Christendom, of the Gospel, of ministries… There is just Jesus, the Person. If it is just about Jesus, then He has the preeminence and He is in the center. If it’s about things other than the Person of Jesus then He is not in it. Just the nature of something should tell you whether the Person of Jesus is in it or not, by reason of how much it reveals Him and His words and commands.
Whatever you are facing in this life, face the Person of Jesus, the Son of God. Look thru your circumstance or your trial and see Jesus and hear His voice and obey.
To live is nothing other than the Person of Jesus. See thru the temporal sufferings to see Him.
Paul suffered a lot and endured a lot of hardship – we have no idea, really! Yet he did not say, to live is suffering, to live is trial; he said to live is Christ – he had his eyes on Christ in the midst of his difficulties.
May we have the same testimony: To live is Christ and to die is gain.
Ian Vincent 
February 13, 2013 at 2:13 am
Someone will ask, What about career, family commitments etc..?? How can life be just about Jesus?
Well, now then we touch upon the issue of what type or kind of Person is Jesus?
Is He just a religious kind of guy who knows nothing about computers? What does He know about careers and family? Isn’t He above all that? (You wouldn’t want to think of Jesus as being like the religious leaders of this present age)
Depends on what kind of Person you think He is.
If you understand that it was Him who gave people the knowledge to make computers in the first place; that families were actually His idea. that nothing exists which He did not DESIGN and create out of nothing…. get the picture as to WHO Jesus Christ is?
If you really know who He is then you can live for Him and use the things He has created for His glory: you can excel in your career as you keep your eyes on Him, and say, to live is Christ, and not, to live is career. Same goes with marriage and family and anything in life. To live is not any of these, to live is Christ, and then He is manifest in your situation, in your family, in your work. He then orders it in His order according to His Kingdom priorities and values.