Undaunted.Life: A Man's DevotionalSample

MENTAL, Day 7: "What We Do in Life Echoes in Eternity"

As we conclude the mental resilience portion of this devotional, I want us to consider some lessons from one of the greatest man movies of all time.

If you were to ask a group of men what some of their favorite movies of all time are, you would no doubt hear them include Gladiator. . It is a timeless classic that seems to get better with each subsequent viewing, and we find ourselves using quotes from the movie in our everyday lives (“What we do in life echoes in eternity” is probably the most popular one). When we picture ourselves in the story, we almost always imagine ourselves as the protagonist Maximus. He is a widely respected and immensely powerful leader whose ability to succeed seems endless. However, one could argue that his fatal flaw could have been his focus.

(SPOILER ALERT) As we see in the movie, the jealous and conniving antagonist of the story, Commodus, strips the mighty and commanding Maximus of his place within the Roman Empire. He even tries to have Maximus executed, but the attempt was not successful. Not only that, Commodus has Maximus’ wife and young son crucified and burned. After finding his murdered family, Maximus goes into a short-lived tailspin where he stops valuing his own life.

Nevertheless, Maximus eventually regains his direction and passion for living. He does so because he becomes laser-focused on one thing: vengeance. The road of vengeance for Maximus is covered in anger, danger, and blood. The thing that was lacking most during Maximus’ quest to even the score was peace. Mentally, he never gained peace. You could safely assume that the only time we see Maximus at peace is once he dies. But, what a shame that this great man could not experience true peace while he was still living.

You can easily see in Maximus’ story that he was very focused on the flesh (the things of this world). When he was still a general within the Roman military, his focus was on conquest, order, and survival. When he was a gladiator slave, his focus was on killing, maneuvering, and survival. The arch of this character never seems to land on circumstances beyond this world.

In Romans 8:6, Paul warns all of us of the dangers of doing just that. If we incessantly think about and mentally pursue the things that this world puts value on, we communicate to God that the things we choose to focus on are better than the things he has for us.

Wherever you point your mind, your heart and your desires will surely follow. We cannot pretend that maintaining focus on God’s will while taking our focus off of worldly values is easy, but the importance of doing so is paramount. As Paul would say, it is literally the difference between life and death. What we do in life will certainly echo in the eternity that God has for us.

Can you identify with how focused Maximus is on his worldly circumstances? What is one thing you can adjust today to help shift your focus towards the will of God?