The Presence of Jesus

Meditations on

Staying In the Grace for Today 

The Presence of Jesus

October 6, 2025

For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

Philippians 1:21 

Since the earliest days of the Christian Church, two questions have concerned every generation of believers: When will Jesus return, and what happens when we die? Before Jesus ascended to heaven, he made it clear the answer to the first question is above our paygrade. The Bible is relatively quiet about the ‘afterlife’. Even though the classical affirmations of faith affirm our belief in the resurrection of our body, there is surprising little detail in the Bible about how and when this will come about. Even though the Bible does not shout, but rather whispers about this issue, its whisper is none the less authoritative. Fear not!

The Apostle Paul models this authoritative whisper in Philippians 1:21-24. He is not afraid of dying because he knows that in that state, whatever it may be, he will be in the presence of Jesus. Paul wrote extensively about our new life in Christ. For Paul, the presence of Christ in his life was the source of his life: “For in him we live and move and exist.” (Acts 17:28) But as he so eloquently noted in 2 Corinthians 4, we experience the presence of Christ in our lives in our earthen vessels, or clay pots. As real as is the presence of Christ within us, so also is the reality of our fallen nature. When we die, we will shed our fallen nature and thus Paul says, “For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.”

My Takeaway: Staying in God’s grace for today can be a bit of a juggling act as we hold dear both truths put forth by Paul, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better.

Sē’lah

My book on prayer,

First Think, Then Pray

is now available on Amazon Kindle.

 

(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2025 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.