2. Christ Is Life

Picture a star athlete who suddenly tears an ACL. Their season is over, their dream crushed. Yet sometimes you see something remarkable—they become the team’s greatest encourager. From the sidelines, they lead, inspire, and shape the team in ways they never could have on the field. What looked like defeat turns into a surprising kind of victory.

We’ve all experienced this in smaller ways. A career setback, an illness, or even the loss of freedom in some form—moments we think will end our usefulness. We’re conditioned to believe that only when we’re strong, free, and winning do we make an impact. Weakness feels like the enemy.

But Paul flips this logic upside down. Writing from a Roman prison cell, he says, “My chains have advanced the gospel.” What others saw as weakness, God used as strength. Guards heard the gospel. Believers were emboldened. Paul’s joy wasn’t chained because Christ wasn’t chained.

Philippians 1 reminds us that joy doesn’t come from our circumstances but from our Savior. Even in prison, Paul could say, “To live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Our lives become powerful testimonies not when we look invincible, but when Christ’s power shines brightest through our limitations.

Lyrics

Verse 1
Behind the bars the night is long,
Yet still my heart will sing a song;
The Word of God is not confined,
His light breaks through these chains of mine.

Chorus
Christ is life, and death is gain,
Through the cross my hope remains.
Though the world may bind my hands,
His gospel runs through every land.

Verse 2
The nails once pierced the Savior’s side,
The grave could not the Lord confine;
So when I walk the shadowed way,
His risen power turns night to day.

Chorus
Christ is life, and death is gain,
Through the cross my hope remains.
Though the world may bind my hands,
His gospel runs through every land.

Bridge
No cell, no stone can seal His word,
The Risen King cannot be blurred.
My chains proclaim His endless worth,
The captive heart finds second birth.

Verse 3
So let them speak, let nations hear,
The news that casts away our fear.
The Lamb who died now reigns above,
And fills our pain with deathless love.

Final Chorus
Christ is life, and death is gain,
Through the cross my hope remains.
Though the world may bind my hands,
His gospel runs through every land.
Christ is life—forevermore!