Life's Pulse

“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!