Philippians 1:22 - A purpose for living

"But if the to be living in flesh, this to me [is] fruit of work, and what I will choose I do not make known."

-it could also be phrased, ‘but if to be living in flesh, [if] this to me is fruit of work, THEN what i will choose i do not make known.’  as if in this rendering it was not automatically certain that any future time spent on earth would result in fruit.

-either way paul is torn, and he actually says he is not going to make known or declare what he will choose (the verb is not ginosko which means ‘to know’, but gnorizo) - to be with Christ (which he just said is gain), or to live on in the flesh.  in his mind, either one is a fantastic opportunity.  one upside of remaining here on earth - maybe THE upside - was that each and every day he lived on in the flesh at least gave paul the chance to bear fruit for Christ, to serve Him by serving others.  this was paul’s all-consuming reason for staying here on earth, his goal and purpose in living - fruitful work, the fruit of changed lives as he leveraged opportunities to try and help others know the love of Christ and follow Him (romans 1.13, colossians 1.6, john 4.36, cf romans 7.4-5 - bearing fruit for God vs bearing fruit for death).  ultimately the choice of whether to stay on earth or be with Christ wasn’t his to make, and so for as long as the Lord chose to leave him on earth his obsession with Christ would ultimately drive him to point others to Jesus, each and every day.