So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

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

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.

For to me, to live is Christ [He is my source of joy, my reason to live] and to die is gain [for I will be with Him in eternity].

My true life is the Anointed One, and dying means gaining more of him.

For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.