Recently, a change took place in my thinking. The change was spurred on by the death of a good friend and my age.

As my friend was dying, the Lord gave me a verse to share with him. It was from Paul’s letter to the Philippians, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (1:21). I repeatedly spoke that verse to him in our conversations during his final months of life. Each time I shared the verse a spiritual clarity strengthened in my friend until the moment the Lord called him home. The content of the verse was a turning point in my friend’s faith. It’s also a turning point for each of us who follow the Lord.

Paul wrote the book of Philippians while he was under house arrest. In that place, he said, “I don’t know which is better” (vs. 22), to live or die. He said he was torn between the two options. Paul longed to be with the Lord, but for the sake of the Philippians, it was better that he lived on. His next step was in the hands of God.

None of us know all that’s entailed in our passing from this life to the next. What we do know is the transition will be beyond our current ability to comprehend. Christ went ahead of us to prepare a place for our lives to live with Him in eternity. That place will be filled with His presence. The same can happen in those moments when we get a glimpse of His glory in this life and receive a foretaste of what’s to come. Living in an understanding of the turning point that Paul described will bring us peace when this life and its outcome are uncertain, and we don’t know what the future holds.