The New Eve - Lewis Robert [57]
Blandina was repeatedly beaten and slashed in the following days, and yet she stubbornly survived until the last day of the spectacle. By now she was famous. No one had ever seen such bravery in a woman. But how would she finish? Would she live with the end in mind even when one simple word, one bare moment of living for now, could save her life?
One last time Blandina was thrown into the arena. This time she was with the only other publicly known Christian left alive in Gaul—a fifteen-year-old boy named Ponticus. The boy kept the faith and died quickly, but his courage emboldened Blandina. She was bound in a net and then tossed before an enraged bull that hurled her around like a sack of straw. When the bull grew bored, the soldiers dumped Blandina's limp form from the net. She was still alive, and no, she did not wish to renounce Christ!
By now the judge had seen enough. He rose from his seat and shouted down his judgment: “Kill her immediately!” A soldier grimly obeyed. Blandina's remains were fed into a bonfire and then unceremoniously dumped into the Rhone River.8
Blandina's life was hers to save. All she had to do was renounce Christ and swear by the idols of Rome. Dozens of others had done exactly that. They forsook the end to live for the now. Blandina, a young girl with her whole life before her, could have joined them, but she made a better choice—a hard choice we're still talking about nearly two thousand years later. Why did Blandina give her life away? She gave it away because she knew God had given her life meaning and purpose, and she believed that in the end her courageous choice of faithfulness would be rewarded. It was this kind of bold faith that fueled the spread of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire and that ultimately came to you and me. One can only imagine Blandina's celebration at the judgment seat of Christ. Great is the reward for living with the end in mind!
Write It Down
I mentioned earlier that Stephen Covey said the happiest, most effective people have goals that purposefully direct the course of their lives. It's important to note that these aren't merely goals that float in and out of their heads when they have a spare moment to reflect. No, these are written goals that powerfully pull their lives forward.
You can benefit from the same practice. By recording on paper your end goals, you bind yourself to a contract with the future you. With God's help you commit to take every day whatever steps are necessary to get you where you want to be before your life is over. This is true end-in-mind living.
What's more, Covey found that people who write down their goals almost always end up overachieving. I've seen this principle at work in my own life. When I look back on the goals I set down on paper years ago—goals I hoped to achieve before my death—I find that I achieved most of them before age fifty. I would never have believed that was possible when I first wrote them in my twenties. Living with the end in mind helps to make good things happen—often sooner and better than you dreamed possible.
So, where do you want to be by the end of life? A New Eve will ask this question with utmost seriousness, knowing that her proactive engagement with these vital, ultimate issues will be one of the wisest moves she can ever make. Indeed, it is foundational to a happy and purpose-filled life. So pretend for a moment that tomorrow is your last day. Looking back, what do you see? What did you make of your life? What did you do? What did you become? What were you known for? What impact did you leave? It's in asking these kinds of questions that you give yourself—and the God who lives in you through His Holy Spirit—the opportunity to unlock the doors of purpose to your life.
Bobb Biehl can help you here. Bobb is a world-class business consultant and personal friend whose wisdom and insight have helped me through many tough spots. Each time we're together, Bobb offers me helpful