For the years when purpose is measured against mortality.

The danger is allowing a changing body, reduced strength, and approaching death to make purpose seem smaller. Paul places the body itself under one holy purpose: Christ is to be magnified in it, whether life continues or death arrives. The question is therefore not whether usefulness will remain unchanged, but whether Christ remains the center when the shape of service changes.

Paul's logic refuses both despair about dying and self-importance about living. To live is Christ: remaining in the flesh can bring fruit through his work for the sake of others. To die is gain: departing means being with Christ, which is far better. I confess that I often measure a season by how much visible work it permits, as though diminished output could diminish belonging. Yet the apostle's confidence rests in Christ being magnified, not in preserving a preferred role.

That purpose is secured by Christ's cross and resurrection. At the cross, Jesus gave his body rather than preserve it for himself; in resurrection, the crucified Lord made death the doorway to being with him, not the destruction of his people. Remaining years can therefore be received as fruitful service, while death can be faced as gain under the care of the risen Christ. Christ gives purpose to the years that remain and gain to the death that comes.