For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
—Philippians 1:21

Will every true Christian live to Christ? Then this doctrine gives everyone occasion to examine and try themselves, whether they be true Christians or not. We may be assured by our text that none have an interest in Christ but those that live to Him, that live to His glory. You have heard what a vast difference there is between a believer and an unbeliever; all this affords matter for the trial of yourself: wherefore, ask yourself whether you ever experienced a mortification of sin and lust and worldly inclinations, whereby your heart and life has been changed and altered from the flesh, sin, and the world, unto Jesus Christ.

Do you in a good degree follow Christ’s example? Do you despise the world and its vanities? Are you humble and meek and patient, as your blessed pattern?

Do you truly and really make the glory of Christ what you desire and aim at above anything else whatever, whether it be worldly goods, possessions, honor, reputation, or pleasure? Has your life been, as it is now, a life by which Christ is honored? Has Christ had any more honor in the world for your living in it? Examine and prove yourself, for most certainly, whoever doesn’t live to Christ and His glory in this world, shall never live with Him and in His glory in the world to come.

—Jonathan Edwards
Adapted from Sermons and Discourses, 1720-1723, WJE (Yale University Press, 1992), 574.

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