"To Live is Christ" by Beth Moore

I recently finished the book "To Live is Christ" by Beth Moore. Today I flipped back through it, getting a better feel for the book as a whole, then slowing down at certain passages. I always say that I "need to hear or see things twice" before they stick in my brain. 

If you've done a Beth Moore Bible study, you know that she really dives deep into study of the Word. The same was true of this book. It follows the life of Paul, from what we know about his childhood to his conversion experience to his missionary journeys to his letters. 

The following passage seems fitting for the day after Easter:

Do we just want the cross without the resurrection? Are we trying to stuff the living, working Christ back into the tomb so He'll just save us and then leave us alone? or do we want to know "the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings"?

Paul began life as a Pharisee, who followed the law and Jewish customs to the letter. He persecuted the earliest Christians. But when the Lord appeared to him in a blinding flash of light, his life changed forever. He recognized his many sins and accepted the forgiveness and grace of Jesus. Then he went on to share the Good News with others at great personal cost.

As Paul said in Philippians 1:21-26, 

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me. 

And so Paul remained, through shipwrecks and floggings and imprisonments and ridicule, until the time God chose to bring him home. The story of Paul is told well in Scripture by itself, but I appreciated the added insights from reading Beth Moore's book about this man who lived for God.