“While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” Leonardo da Vinci

Leo delves out a stinger here. So much of our lives are consumed by how to live—what we’re supposed to do, what we think is expected of us, what we need to do to make others think highly of us, and the accomplishment of our bucket lists.

The underlying goals in all life’s activities, though, are purpose, contentment and fulfillment. These dreams fuel the sweat, tears, long hours, and mind-numbing energy of our pursuits. We yearn to live fully and attempt every conceivable path we can to do so.

Regrettably, many of us reach the end of our lives on top of mountains of regrets anyway. We wish we would’ve loved more, forgiven quicker, invested in lives more than mutual funds, and used our time for others instead of ourselves. Standing on the brink of death, we wish we would’ve known more the God we’re about to meet face to face.

Leo’s statement (regardless of intention) reveals how believers attain true life in Christ—by learning how to die. God and His Gospel totally contradict the ways of this world. This world promotes this life as highest priority and utmost importance. The Gospel shouts eternity with Jesus as over and beyond anything imaginable in this world.

Jesus stepped into this world and inaugurated the most profound plan of redemption ever contemplated. With excruciating agony He bore the punishment that we deserve because of our sin. Though His death alone do we access life, because only in His death can we live free from the bondage of our entangling sin.

The struggle ensues when we fail to realize that the Gospel and the sin that poisons this world are incompatible with each other. When Gospel-redeemed children willingly drink the poison of sin the world offers, we slap Christ in the face by refusing to live in His sacrificial death. He reaches down with the antidote at His fingertips yearning for us to grab it; we turn it down and heighten disgrace by consuming more poison.

Paul discusses this tension in Romans 8:12-14:
So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for it you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
How, then, do we live in Christ? By dying to this world. Our goal is not to find purpose in this life, but to rediscover the true, pulse-giving purpose Christ offers in His. Christ didn’t just make the sacrifice and leave it to ourselves to figure it out from there. He gives us the Holy Spirit, who leads us into truth and resuscitates us daily with eternal life.

Eternal life bleeds through our physical lives when we live under the weight of Christ’s Gospel. Genuine purpose and fulfillment only appear when our eyes focus on Him. Our charge is straightforward yet so easily missed—to submit to the Spirit as He puts our sin to death, thereby breathing His eternal life into us once again.

It’s all Him. Jesus paid the price and accomplished eternal life for us. We experience true life by learning how to die—surrendering daily to Him so He can inject the antidote of life into our poisoned bodies of sin. It helps if we immerse ourselves in His Gospel everyday—to dive into the truth of what He’s done so we don’t erroneously try reinvent it for ourselves.

The more we die to our sin, the more alive we become in Christ. Choose carefully what you put to death in this life. It’s either the flesh or the Spirit, walking dead or thriving life. Let Him redefine your reality of life—He’ll blow you away, guaranteed!

Reality TV reveals the most egregious pitfalls of humanity. We waste hours of our lives watching programs that arguably decrease the amount of brain cells in our otherwise functioning brains. Some of us watch shows dedicated to stalking rich families as they engage in outrageous drama, while others stare with gruesome curiosity at scenes within a home whose owner is a hoarder.

Of course, reality TV isn’t the only form of debilitating nonsense available on TV or in media at large. Soap operas, gossip magazines, various forms of music and talk shows hypnotize us with their warped perceptions of reality just the same.

One box-like electronic device sitting in homes enslaves families and transforms minds into waste dumps. Magazines lying casually on tables reach into our minds and captivate them with the material being advertised. Music flowing throughout a room or car wraps itself around our thoughts and injects the content into our perspectives and worldviews.

Media is powerful. It at once sucks us in, repulses us, informs us, twists our perspectives, encourages us, enrages us, and draws out every emotion conceivable. Most of the time, this remains an unseen process. Our reactions to media aren’t often conscious; we simply find ourselves as bait being pulled through murky waters.

Before we get too carried away, media is not inherently immoral. Some outlets are, to be sure, but others remain morally neutral (like sports), and a small few actually dedicate themselves to spiritual growth and maturity.

Engaging in media does not ban us to hell. God doesn’t hate us or think we’re less spiritual if we watch TV, nor are we condemned for listening to rap music or dancing. (King David danced all the time by the way, but that’s another topic for another time.)

Though powerful, media itself is neutral. Our job is to discern how best to engage it.

Exercising our Christian faith is like walking up a downward escalator. As bona fide sinners and justified saints, we wrestle with the Romans 7 tension of walking in accordance with the Gospel while tripping over potholes and boulders thrown at us from the enemy. We often act like we don’t want to, and then don’t act the way we want to. We get confused, disoriented, turned-round and thrown up-side down.

The only way to remain in Christ (and consequently run from sin) is to abide in Christ via the Gospel. That means immersing ourselves daily in His truth and saturating our minds with His plans and purposes.

Media plays a huge role in our conquests of faith. More often than not, it proves to be an agent distracting us from the Gospel. Instead of contemplating on the truths of Scripture, we squander our time by filling our minds with worthless information, empty plot lines, and transparent worldly promises.

Our lives are short. We receive very little time on earth to engage and thrive in faith. We’re given one chance to learn about the greatest display of love and grace this world has ever known (the Gospel), and one designated amount of time to respond to it. Responses range in size and form, including our rest and work, fun and discipline, freedom and discernment.

The challenge we face with media is one of balance and purpose. Is our time with media held in proper balance to the rest of our lives? Do we find ourselves engaging more with it than we do with our families and/or with God?

Are we being purposeful with media or are we letting it define our purpose? Are we diligently discerning the media outlets we fancy? Or do we watch, listen, and read whatever we want whenever we want without a critical view?

The under girding question in our relationships with media is this:

Is media a means through which we worship or an end in which God is ignored?

It can’t be both. As Paul states in Romans 8, “The mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.”

All media should be used to zoom in our focus to Christ, not divert our attention to the peripheral vision of our perishing world. Ask Him to shift your focus to Christ first using any method available—even media. Let Him be the end we pursue, and media remain a means through which it’s accomplished.

No vaccine in the world prevents cultures from the infestation of fads and trends. They’re everywhere and people fall prey to them all the time. From over-the-top children toys to the latest and greatest miracle diet, fads consume us with a compulsion to ride their wave. Unfortunately, many wipe out.
One particular fad of late that’s manifested into a culture all its own is the one of going organic. Health nuts immerge from all walks of life to stake their claim in the organic trend and make it their purpose in every aspect of life.
Living a healthy lifestyle is an admirable goal. But many find themselves riding the wave of all things earth far beyond healthy boundaries appropriate for their lives. Like everything else in life, we need to balance the scales—to exercise our God-endowed stewardship while keeping it in proper perspective with His Word and Gospel.
It’s no accident that we’re physical beings. Our physicality did not arise from the curse of the Fall, nor are our physical bodies designed to keep our spirits enslaved until we die. God created us multi-dimensional—spiritual AND physical.
Because of the fall, Scripture shows us that our physical bodies will not be accompanying us into eternity with Jesus. When Jesus returns we will receive new glorified bodies and exist without pain or suffering, without tears or hurt for eternity.
For now, we live knowing that “our outer man is decaying.” We will die, and we experience the effects of a broken world physically every day. So what are we to do? Be reckless and gorge on whatever physical pleasures we desire?
As Paul would say, “By no means!”
Physical and spiritual cannot be separated. If we suffer an emotional tragedy, it will manifest itself spiritually, relationally, and physically in our lives. Same with physical turmoil and/or sin. Paul gives an example in 1 Corinthians 6 regarding a man sleeping with a prostitute. That physical sin deeply affects the man’s spiritual relationship with God. Thus, we can sin against our own body by allowing our body to fall into sin.
What we do with our bodies matters. God cares about our physical selves, and our relationships with Him are impacted by the physical choices we make. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 tells us why…
Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
No building or establishment can hold God or contain His presence, but in the Temple God designated a physical location where He would be represented among His people. With the inauguration of the Gospel through Jesus Christ, the Temple veil tore symbolizing the breaking down of physical barriers to God in Christ. Don’t miss this. With the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, God chooses now to dwell in us—to take up residence within our hearts and lives.
That does not mean God becomes some strange adage to our bodies. We don’t receive a “God-organ” that produces spiritual chemicals of truth that take over our minds and cause us to do His will.
God’s residence DOES, however, provide us with unhindered access to His presence. We can communicate with Him constantly and have access to His power and holiness without obstruction.
When Paul says that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and that we have been bought with a price, he means exactly that. God chooses to reside in us through Christ. When we surrender to Christ as our Savior, we are no longer our own. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross purchases us from our bondage of sin and frees us into His future.
This purchase is not limited to our spirits—our bodies are redeemed as well! Physical suffering may not cease, but through all our suffering (physical or not) we’re being redeemed. Exercising diligent stewardship of our physical bodies partners with the Gospel being manifested in our lives.
Once we embrace the Gospel our role is to go deeper into it. Our growth as disciples of Christ is marked by our transforming into His image. In other words, His holiness manifests itself organically in our lives. We organically become practically (in our lives and relationships) who we are positionally (in our legal standings with God).
Our bodies may not glow with His radiant beauty, but our disposition will. The freedom we possess in Christ will absolutely display itself in our physical demeanor and presence. The process is organic. If our inner man is being renewed day by day, it will reveal itself through our physical beings. Not necessarily with immaculate health, but absolutely in our presence because it's HIS presence seen through us.
None of this will happen, though, if we aren’t faithful stewards with the bodies He’s given us. The Gospel isn’t a fad; it’s LIFE. Going organic in the Gospel means letting it radically transform us into the image of Jesus—beginning with our hearts and letting it manifest itself through our physical presence. Go organic by surrendering to His Gospel physically as well as spiritually. It’s the only way to live a life of substance--a life pleasing and in submission to our Sovereign Lord.

​Underdogs. Little excites us more than watching an underdog rise to the top from impossible circumstances. Hearing success stories of disadvantaged individuals rise in the business world, athletics, Hollywood, and academia quickens our pulse and leaves us cheering them on. We can’t help it. We adore rooting for David in his conquest over Goliath.
Our love for the underdog originates largely in our identification with them. Most people aren’t born into privilege and astounding wealth, so when we see fellow comrades rise to the top it’s as if we’re right there with them. The impossible becomes possible and our sense of connection with them imputes their excitement to us.
Samuel is a great underdog of the Old Testament. Life dealt him a harsh stack of cards. His mother dedicated him to the Lord at a young age, which meant leaving his family and living at the tabernacle with a priest and his family. Priests in that day were priests by blood. Samuel didn’t fit in. Priests exercised specific responsibilities as ministers to the Lord; Samuel was their errand boy.
To make matters worse, the priests Samuel lived with left much to be desired in their persons. Eli’s sons were particularly of the scoundrel kind—taking advantage of God’s offerings, sleeping with tabernacle prostitutes, and a host of other gross sins. Their guilt before God transferred to Eli when Eli refused to rebuke them or take action against their behavior. Not only did Samuel not fit in, he had no role model to aspire to—no mentor to guide him in the ways of God or any other moral platitude.
Nothing about Samuel’s life inspired any thought of possible success. Like so many of us, meager existence and survival seemed to be his only destiny.
But God had other plans. He always does.
One night God decided to make His presence known to Samuel. In a familiar story, God calls Samuel twice before Eli realizes it’s God and tells him to answer if He called again. Samuel obeys and finds himself communicating with the God of eternity.
In a twist of events, the words spoken weren’t ones of butterflies and roses. Instead, God pronounces a prophecy of judgment on Eli and his sons for their unrelenting sin. Great. The first and only time God speaks to Samuel is to condemn the only family he really knows to doom and disaster!
Such a prophecy was unexpected and undesired. Little did Samuel know this prophecy would be the inaugural word to begin his calling as a prophet. A mere errand boy living among a family that wasn’t blood and didn’t care had just been ordained by God as His prophet to the people of Israel.
Thus Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fail. All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. And the Lord appeared again at Shiloh, because the Lord revealed Himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord.
1 Samuel 3:19-21
From that point on life would never be the same and it all began in a blink of an eye.
Many of us resonate with Samuel more than we realize. We may never reach fame like Samuel or live in dazzling lights of popularity, but each of us is endowed with a specific calling from God. We may not receive it in a vision or face-to-face, but it’s no less real and tangible in our lives.
How do we discover our calling? The answer is two-part:
He already told us. 
In cosmic terms, we are well-equipped to know and live out His calling for our lives because it’s found in His Gospel recorded in His Word. We’re the underdogs in God’s story—the ones who never had a chance, yet through His incredible grace and unbelievable sacrifice we find ourselves immersed in His mercy and empowered with His might. For reasons still mysterious today, He chose us to carry out the plan of redemption Jesus inaugurated with His first coming. Our role now is to get intimate with the Gospel and pour ourselves into its truth daily. We’re to become practically who we already are positionally in Jesus.
Not discovered; revealed. 
Any and every specific calling on our lives (like the Gospel) isn’t discovered by us, but revealed to us. Just as we have no part in the Gospel other than the reason we need it in the first place (sin) so we aren’t capable of discovering the specific role of divinity He’s orchestrating in our lives. Like Samuel, we’re to live in accordance with what He has revealed in Scripture (a.k.a. the Gospel) and let Him reveal more when He deems necessary.
Ironically, when our eyes are fastened to our Heavenly Daddy, we won’t really care about the specifics of His call in our lives. His glory radiating in and through our lives becomes an organic reaction, not a controlled manipulation.
We’re underdogs rising into His glory by the fuel of His grace. Samuel didn’t manipulate circumstances to hear God’s call on his life, he merely lived by the truth he knew and left the rest to God. Let’s mirror that posture. Let’s concentrate on what He’s DONE and let Him work out the DOING. Let Him be the mastermind behind your underdog story.