We all want a good life. We speak of the "quality" of life as well as the length of it. We are all pretty much in agreement that without the quality, the quantity can be unbearable. How do you define the "Quality" of a life? Dr. Kervorkian evidently feels that quality is defined by good health and a clear mind. So he invented a machine by which those who do not have good health, or a clear mind can end their life-because, in their opinion, life has little quality left. Most of us would agree that it is preferable to have good health and a clear mind. But what about persons who have only one, or neither of these qualities. "They shoot horses, don't they", when a leg is broken? Not so people. Did Edison or Beethoven cease to be valuable when they ceased to hear? Helen Keller could neither hear nor see, yet how impoverished we would be without her legacy. The really barren lives are most often lived by people with perfect health, perfect hair, and perfect cars. Which tastes better, brings the most joy and flavor - the spotty apple off your grandmother's tree, or the waxy-perfect one in the super market? Paul sat in a jail cell, he was old. Paul had some sort of disability, some "thorn in the flesh". Yet, he wrote:

...Christ will be exalted in my body, for to live is Christ and to die is gain, If I go on living in the body this will mean fruitful labour for me.....I desire to depart and be with Christ which is better by far, but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.....(Philippians 1:20-24)

Listen! Listen closely: "Christ will be exalted in my body.....it is necessary for you that I remain in the body..." How can this be Paul? You are old, incarcerated,and disabled?

How can this be?

Because"....to live is Christ"

When living is Christ, life has quality. When living is Christ, Christ will be exalted in any body, whether all four limbs work, are lifeless, or aren't there at all. When living is Christ, there will always be fruitful labour. When living is Christ, we will be necessary to others.

Quality of life is measured by Christ in a life

and.....

Every life is as valuable as the blood Christ shed for it.