To Live Is Christ

Sidewalk Prophets' “To Live Is Christ” is a set of conditional prayers, each beginning “if.” “If I rise, let me rise on you, not on all of my successes, my esteem or my pursuits.” “If I lose, let me lose my life, cause if I belong to Jesus, the flesh is crucified.” The singer covers success, loss, growth and silence, and in each case asks that Christ be the ground.

The refrain, “for me to live is Christ, to die is gain,” is the thesis. The second verse asks to “wilt the seeds of wanting more” and to be rid of pride “out by the roots,” and then, in stillness, to hear “not the tone of my transgressions, but the song of the Redeemed.” The bridge accepts that heaven is desired but earth is where he is placed: “my great desire is to be with You, but this is the place You chose for me, to lift my cross and give everything.”

The refrain is Philippians 1:21, where Paul weighs living and dying. The crucified flesh and the new life are Galatians 2:20, and lifting a cross and giving everything is the cost of discipleship in Luke 9:23.