Every man dies. Not every man really lives.
~ William Wallace, Braveheart
Braveheart fans remember William Wallace’s famous quote moments before his execution as his lover, the Princess of France, made a futile attempt at convincing him to recant and receive a more painless execution by decapitation.
Wallace rejects her attempts to sway him with, “Every man dies. Not every man really lives.”
The result of death is still death. Or, like a hunting buddy once said, “Overkill is still dead.”
I’m committed to being a man who truly lives. I don’t want to be marked with those who Teddy Roosevelt called, “cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Dr. Anthony Campolo put it another way, “Instead of people praying, ‘If I die before I wake,’ they should pray, ‘If I wake before I die.’”
Do me a favor, go and grab your Bible.
It might have a map in the back titled “Palestine in the Day of Jesus.” If you look at the eastern border of Israel you’ll see the Jordan River. Follow the river south until it dumps into the Dead Sea. Nothing lives there because, as you’ll notice, there’s no outflow. The water holds up, stagnates and is dead.
Live. Pour your life into someone else. Don’t be like so many men that have no outflow. Their lives are stagnant, full of selfishness, dead. They spend hours living through the false realities found in video games, social media relationships, television, and various addictions.
They are becoming more the rule than the exception. These men are like a child’s dirty bath water or the stagnant Dead Sea. They’ve forfeited their lives for something less, false - dead. What kind of man are you?
