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Am I in a Dilemma - Working for the Lord or Being with the Lord?

If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.
Philippians 1:22-26

I was recently searching for books on preaching as I was told to lead a class for the evangelists in our diocese. As I scrolled through the books that came in my search result, the title of one book caught by attention. Between two worlds: The Art of Preaching in the 20th century. The author John Stott in the book conveys the idea that the job of the preacher is to connect two worlds, that he lives between the world of ancient and the world of the modern - a world that was dominated by the Hebrew language, Aramaic, and Greek, versus a modern culture, which has several other languages, but is principally dominated by the English language.

The ancient culture is a world where people walked great distances, worked out in the fields during the hot, sunny days. The modern world is where people drive cars, and listen to radios and fly on airplanes and work in air conditioned offices. The whole premise of the books is that a preacher, to be a good preacher, has to be familiar with the ancient world of the Bible and the modern world in which he lives, in order to effectively communicate to this world.

Just like the title of the book I believe this is what the Christian also does. We live between two worlds. We've dual citizenship. We are Earth-born, but we are Heaven-bound. We live on the Earth, but we long for what is ahead in Heaven. So we live, effectively, between two worlds. We experience the tension of that.

All of us face dilemmas from time to time. Dilemmas are decisions, but they're not decisions where one this is obviously right and another obviously wrong. It's a dilemma when either option might be right. Both may have good or bad consequences.

Paul's dilemma is whether to continue in this world or leave for the next. Superficially, that seems strange. Is Paul in control of that choice? He's a prisoner of the Romans, so surely they'll decide whether he lives or dies? And, of course, they will. But their judgment will be influenced by the actions he takes, and especially the words he speaks. But what should Paul aim for? What does he want? What does he believe is best? Like all dilemmas, there isn't just one answer.

Paul is living between two worlds. He is in prison. He is facing a trial. He doesn't know which way it's going to go - if he's going to live or die. But he sees his prison as an opportunity - a way, in his words, for the furtherance of the Gospel. And he doesn't know which way the trial's going to go, but he sees his possible extrication from prison, his release, as another opportunity to labour for the Lord. And yet, with all of that, he also knows that Heaven is just so much better than anything, any opportunity, any experience on this Earth, and he is expressing the tension in these verses.

The Christian life at one level is a series of paradoxes. We are regenerate people yet carry the vestiges of our fallen humanness. We have the life and rule of heaven with us, yet reside in a cursed world. We have the ear of the God of the universe and can accomplish great things with Him through prayer, yet we are considered the off-scouring of the world and look impotent compared to the wealthy and powerful of this age. Given these realities, it should make sense that perhaps the ultimate paradox is between life and death. Paul is torn between two equally attractive, equally beneficial options. If he had a choice, which would he choose? We will explore the options and their unique blessings in the coming days of meditation.

Dear friends, would the choice between leaving or staying in this world be a dilemma for us? Nothing is a dilemma if there's only one answer which is right or acceptable. So, if we had to choose between life or death, would there be a dilemma?

God Bless you.
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Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

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