Philippians 1:24

“yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake”

“Yet”: “Paul, however, was the last man to put his own interests or preferences before the advantage of others” (Bruce p. 52). “To abide in the flesh”: To continue to live on in the body. “Is more needful for your sake”: What unselfishness! The teaching that Paul will lay down in chapter Philippians 2:3-5, even applies in hard times and difficult situations. “ The need of the church weighs heavier with him than the desire of his own soul” (Hendriksen p. 79). “Paul was not. man who wished to die before his work was done or while he saw any needful duty to be performed. He was not one to shirk his task on earth that he might find rest in heaven” (Erdman p. 68).. cannot help but think as. read these comments, how selfish suicide looks in comparison. Thus Paul is willing to allow God to make such. decision, as to when he will die. What an example of self-sacrifice and love for souls. Immediate personal fulfillment, for the Christian, often must take. back seat to the needs of others---which happens to result in. lasting fulfimment. Paul was even willing to delay his own entrance into eternal bliss, for the spiritual needs of those he loved.