What if the difference between passivity and purpose is a handful of daily choices you can start today? We dive into Christ-centered leadership for men who want to serve with strength, handle money with wisdom, and love their families with steady, secure presence. Grounded in 2 Corinthians 5:14–15, we explore how the love of Christ moves us from living for ourselves to living on mission—and what that actually looks like between work, workouts, and weeknights at the ball field.
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Our devotionals dive deep into the pillars that define The Lion Within Us - health, wealth, and self. W...
Episode Transcript
Welcome to the Lion Within Us, a podcast serving
Christian men who are hungry tobe the leaders God intends you
to be.
I'm your host, Chris Granger.
Let's jump in.
All right, fellas, it is yourfun Friday.
Let's get right into it, okay?
Scripture the week this week,guys, as a reminder, 2
Corinthians, 5th chapter, 14 and15th verse.
For the love of Christ controlsus, having concluded this, that
(02:06):
one died for all, therefore alldied, and he died for all, so
that those who live will nolonger live for themselves, but
for him who died and rose ontheir behalf.
So, guys, took some time tounpack that.
Back up to in your podcast feed,and you'll find it right there,
your spiritual kickoff episode.
Again, we'll do these Mondaythrough Friday in our Lion
(02:26):
Within Us communities.
Go check it out.
It's free.
We take basically take the wayit works, I take scripture every
morning.
We go live.
It's a live feed.
So there's a video component toit.
You can hop on the live feedwhen I'm working through the
scripture, just trying to giveyou some encouragement for your
day.
And guess what?
You can even chat directly, wecan engage, or if you can't make
(02:47):
the live feed, we put thosevideos right there in that
library.
So it's all exclusive for you,just for the guys in a daily
SKO.
We don't put them anywhere else.
They're not going on YouTube,they're not going on Facebook,
they're not going on Instagram.
They're just right there to giveyou encouragement.
And we also open up our prayerrequests section of Lion Within
Us community.
That's all for free, guys.
(03:07):
We're just trying to do this.
So look, if just if you've beenlistening to the line for any
length of time and you haven'tat least done this daily
spiritual kickoff, what are youwaiting on?
I mean, it's it's right there.
It's free.
It's an easy way to engage.
And I'd love to reach out,connect with you, and just say
thank you for listening.
If nothing more, just for me togive a heartfelt thank you for
taking the time to listen to theshow.
(03:27):
Okay.
All right.
Well, guys, our conversationwith Alex Kochman was great,
talking about striving for thefaith, really looking through
the book of Philippians.
And we took it to a differentarea where we talked more about
practically applying uh andfighting and battling against
evil.
What does that look like?
How can we as Christian men notbe so spiritually passive and be
active in what God's called usto do?
(03:49):
So hopefully you guys enjoyedthat one.
I certainly did working throughit with Alex.
Okay, so for our fun Friday, theway we do this, guys, we do the
health, wealth, and a self tip.
Okay, so the health tip is howdo we strengthen our minds and
our bodies?
Wealth is how do we be how canwe be better stewards and of our
finances and our careers?
And self is what can we do?
(04:10):
Just small tips to improve ashusbands and fathers.
And look, we're always like togo back to Alex, striving, we're
always striving for improvement,right?
And this is areas we want tothink about.
All right.
So for the health tip this week,simply put, don't skip leg day.
All right, so here's why.
I I I had a brutal ankle injuryon July 26th of 2025.
(04:32):
This was a brutal injury.
I'm I'm still recovering.
And I learned how much strengthin the legs, it matters.
I mean, it matters for yourhealth and stability.
Getting that strength back inmy, it was my right ankle, my
right leg has been slow.
It's been humbling, but it'sreminded me we don't skip leg
day because it has consequences.
(04:54):
The sum of the build of myability to actually get back
faster had to do with I was Iwas I was running six days a
week.
So my little body was in shape.
And strong legs supports yourentire body, right?
They help to prevent injuries,except when a tree hits you,
right?
They help you improve balanceand it keeps you mobile for the
long run.
(05:14):
And so for you guys out thereleading your families or you're
trying to serve others or you'retrying to serve us in your in
your church, strength isn'tabout vanity, it's about
stewarding our bodies well.
And if God has given you a bodyto serve, we can't neglect the
foundation.
And the legs are literally thefoundation that we're standing
on, okay?
So if you hate leg day, if youhate doing squats, if you hate
(05:35):
doing lunges, if you if you haterunning all that stuff, I'm
sorry.
It's not about your personalwhat you enjoy, but this is for
endurance to run the race thatGod has called you to run, and
we gotta stop ignoring it, okay?
So I'm telling you, someone whojust came through a massive, I
mean a brutal injury to my leg,I'm thankful that I had that
(05:56):
foundation, and now I'm beingmore intentional even more about
building that strength up.
All right.
Wealth tip, guys.
Use your FSA and your HSAwisely.
So most people overlook thetools right in front of them.
Flexible spending accounts, yourFSA, and health savings
accounts, the HSA, are greatways to manage expenses.
(06:17):
This could be medical expenses,it could be uh uh uh um type of
expenses that come with childrearing and things like that.
And this helps also reducetaxable income and build some
margin out there.
I mean, think of them asinvestments in your family's
well-being.
It's money you can set asidespecifically to cover the
unexpected.
We have to tap into our HSAbecause of my injury, right?
(06:40):
And that's that's been helpfulfor us to have that there.
Again, stewardship isn't aboutjust tithing and giving,
stewardship is about wiselymanaging what God has entrusted
to you.
So if you have these options andyou haven't exercised them, why?
Like go have the conversationwith HR.
Understand what your options areso that you can make the best
(07:03):
decisions for you and yourfamily and the people you're
trying to help moving forward,okay?
By planning ahead and you andyou can start using these counts
regularly, you can free yourselffrom unnecessary stress.
I mean, this literally couldtake stress off of you and even
create more headroom to give,save, and lead with generosity,
okay?
So don't ignore those areas,guys.
Please, please check it out.
(07:24):
Now, a self-tip think aboutthis.
Celebrate your kids beyondperformance.
And and and as someone whocoaches their kids, all four, um
all my kids, I'm coaching themall, love them, love coaching.
It's easy as a dad to get caughtup in how our kids perform on
the field or on the court,right?
(07:46):
The greatest gift we can givethem, though, guys, just as a
quick reminder, I'm sure youguys know, it's affirmation that
our love is not tied to anyresults.
I mean, I started trying to bemore intentional about just
telling my oldest daughters, Ijust love watching you play.
I just really enjoy watching youplay.
I mean, don't focus on theperformance, right?
(08:07):
Because it shifts it from theperformance focus to just being
present, man.
Just being present.
Reinforce the effort that yousee, the character that you see,
and the joy that you see intheir in and them playing the
sport, whether they win or lose.
Now, obviously, we want tocelebrate when they win, right?
For sure.
But let's build resilience andsecurity in them, teaching them
(08:27):
that their worth, particularlyfrom with you as their father,
doesn't depend on their success,but on just who they are.
They're made in God's image.
God has trusted you to raisethem.
So in a culture that is soobsessed with achievement, our
dads, our our our kids rather,need dads that are just
(08:49):
unconditionally showing love totheir kids.
And this is just so just thinkabout this.
I mean, next time you're at aball game or next time you're at
at a practice or whatever, don'tfocus so much on the performance
celebration.
Let them know you just enjoywatching them.
You just enjoy being there.
Hey, I have a ball watching youplay volleyball, watching you
(09:11):
play softball, watching you playbaseball, whatever it is.
I just thoroughly enjoy it, andI just want to encourage you to
keep going.
All right.
So there are your three tips,guys.
Your health, wealth, andself-dump and self.
Don't skip leg day.
Use that HSA and FSA wisely andcelebrate your kids beyond
performance.
Again, the book of the weekright here, Striving for the
Faith, A Journey ThroughPhilippians for a Life on
Mission.
(09:31):
Alex Kochman, highly encourageyou guys to get that, check it
out.
It even has some resources asthrough this where you can
actually do this as a group andhave some reflection questions,
some prayer prompts and thingslike that as you go along.
Okay.
All right, so the dad joke time,fellas.
So let's get up to our dadjokes.
Number one, what do you call aniPhone that isn't kidding around
(09:52):
anymore?
Hmm.
An iPhone that isn't kiddingaround anymore.
Well, you would call that deadserious.
All right.
So there you go, fellas.
That's number one.
Number two, how do trees accessto internet?
Well, they they log in, fellas.
So there goes number one andnumber two, what do you call an
(10:13):
iPhone that isn't kiddingaround?
That's dead serious.
And number two, how do treesaccess the internet?
They log in.
So, fellas, again, the wholepoint of the dad jokes, just get
an eye roll.
So if you get an eye roll orsigh, you know it's a good dad
joke.
And by the way, if you have adad joke you want us to use,
send it over to support attheliontan.us.
(10:34):
Email that right there.
We'll give you a shout out onthe show and hook you up with
some free resources for helpingus out.
Okay.
So the question of the week thisweek is Ben, where are you
clinging to control instead ofsurrendering?
And we all struggle with this indifferent areas of our life,
right?
So I'm highly encourage youguys, if you need support, if
you got if you're clinging ontosomething that you just need to
(10:55):
let go and you don't know how,reach out.
This is where we try to helpguys have these types of
conversations.
Uh, help help them reflect, helpthem really think through, help
them, hey, here's what hasworked for so-and-so, here's
what's worked over here, giveresources and things like that.
But all again, thelionwithin.usis where you can find all that
(11:16):
stuff at, fellas.
So it's been a great week thisweek on The Lion.
Hopefully, you guys are enjoyingit.
I I can't just say thank youenough for taking the time to
listen to the show.
There's so many podcasts outthere, we get it.
It's a saturated market, but atthe end of the day, we're just
trying to do what God hasfaithfully called me to do,
which is create these episodeseach and every week.
And hopefully you're findingencouragement in them.
You're finding a little bit ofmaybe some laughter from time to
(11:38):
time.
I can be a little silly.
And but hopefully, at the end ofthe day, it's helping you grow
as a disciple of Christ becausethat's it.
If we're not helping and givingyou some encouragement to help
you continue to grow closer toChrist, then we miss tomorrow.
And I'm sure some days we domiss tomorrow, but I'm
prayerfully we hit it more thanwe miss it.
And if it's helping you, I'dlove to hear from you.
I would just love it's just itwould be an encouragement to me
(12:01):
to hear from you.
Uh, you can also leave a ratingand review, those are always
encouraging to read.
So if you get a chance to dothat, that would help the show
big time.
This helps in those areas.
Follow us on YouTube, connectwith us on Instagram or
Facebook.
We're trying to do more and moreof the social media type stuff,
which I'm terrible at.
We're trying to do more of thatnow.
Just to connect with guys indifferent areas.
(12:21):
Check out our book, Unleashingthe Lion Within.
That's again another way we tryto help guys.
We have the audible version, theKindle version, the print
version.
So, whatever way you enjoyconsuming, it's right there for
you, okay?
All right, guys.
Well, I do hope you have a greatday.
And this if there's anything wecan do to serve you, the
lionwithin.us, connect with usthere.
Sign up for our weekly roar.
(12:42):
That's our weekly newsletterthat goes out.
So I hope you get a little bitof encouragement along the way.
Thanks for listening again.
Have a great weekend, guys.
And you know what's coming.
Just keep unleashing the lionwithin.
If you're tired of going at italone, we understand every man
needs wise counsel, but findingit can be quite the challenge.
(13:03):
That's why we build ourleadership masterminds.
This isn't just more content,guys.
It's real discipleship with aconsistent rhythm, small cohorts
of no more than seven guys,honest hot seat sessions, and
biblical counsel that turns goodintentions into action.
You'll get accountability,clarity, and a circle of
(13:26):
brothers who will challenge youand cheer you on.
We open up new options regularlyso there's room to find the
right fit.
It's not always easy, but it isworth it.
The first step is simple.
Take the leadership mastermindassessment.
No pressure, no hype, justthoughtful questions to help you
(13:48):
see where you are, where God isleading you, and whether this is
a good option for your nextstep.
Hey, if it's a fit, we're gonnafollow up with details.
And if it's not, we'll point youto resources to help you keep
growing.
Either way, you move forward.
So if you're ready to take theassessment, head over to
(14:09):
thelionwithin.us slashmastermind.
So that's thelionwithin.uslashmastermind to get moving today.
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