And Having Done All to Stand – Stand!
My wife and I have been married for a long time. Our marriage is not the product of two perfect people finding each other. No. Like other successful marriages, our success has been a willingness to face our own imperfections and problems with honesty, courage, and the determination to make our relationship work. On our 30th anniversary, my wife gave me a card with the following message written in it.
“Thank you for 30 years of marriage. I can’t say the years have flown by. Some of them where long and difficult. But, I am glad to have shared the journey with you.”
Friends, even the best journeys have their rocky paths. Who told you this journey was going to be easy? Why did you believe them? Jesus invites us to participate in a challenging journey that will test our mettle and demand everything of us. It is not for the faint of heart. Yet, if you have a faint heart, God can turn you into a brave warrior. The price will be steep, but the rewards are remarkable. You once believed that, but you have now hit some turbulence. It is not the smooth sailing you once expected. The skies are not always sunny and blue.
C. S. Lewis once said,
If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction, and it’s not so bad. Imagine a set of people all living in the same castle. Half of them think it is a hotel; the other half think it is a prison. Those who think it a hotel might regard it as quite intolerable, and those who thought it was a prison might decide that it was really surprisingly comfortable. So that, what seems the ugly doctrine is one that comforts and strengthens you in the end. The people who try to hold an optimistic view of this world would become pessimists; the people who hold a pretty stern view of it become optimistic.
[1. C.S. Lewis (God in the Dock,” Answers to Questions on Christianity” (1944), ans. 5, p. 52.)]
In 1 Corinthians 9:26-27, we read: “I fight like a boxer who is hitting something solid – not just shadow boxing, swinging at the air. I treat my body hard and make it my slave, so that I myself will not be disqualified after having preached to others.”
The Bible doesn’t explicitly condone or condemn boxing. But the sport goes back to early antiquity and has been universally practiced with other martial arts for millennia. Love it or hate it, the athletes that compete in these sports are disciplined, fierce, and some of the hardest-working athletes to ever compete.
Paul uses the analogy of boxing for our commitment to our Christian faith. And there are several lessons to learn.
- Don’t even step into the arena if you are not willing to be punched in the face. What were you expecting? Did you think this victory would be easy? You have an opponent. You have an enemy willing to give you the beating of your life if you do not contend for the prize. Jesus said that if you want to follow him, you must be willing to deny yourself and take up your cross daily (Luke 9). Short of heaven, you do not get to exchange that cross for a crown. If you are not willing to be uncomfortable, inconvenienced, or willing to suffer, you might not be suited to following Jesus (Luke 9:62).
- Shadowboxing can be a fun warm-up exercise, but you need more than that to make you a boxer. Swinging at the air does not make you a fighter. Neither do fancy trunks, athletic shoes, or shiny gloves. A real cost and sacrifice must be paid, including tremendous hard work and sweat equity. That work will include hitting a physical target, not just an imaginary one. As early as 686 BC, heavy punching bags were being used by training fighters. If you are going to face another warrior, you’re going to have to do more than look the part. You are going to have to become a warrior. It is the same in your Christian life. You have to do more than look the part. Some people have convinced themselves that living a bourgeoisie, clean, middle-class life is all that is necessary to being a Christian – sitting in church for a few hours each week, being nice, and that’s that. But the real Christian life is about the deep soul work that only comes when you spend time before the Father in prayer and scripture, when you get out of your comfort zone to go where the gospel is needed most, and when you live a generous, courageous life of faith and love. In others words, you have to get your hands dirty and calloused.
- You don’t necessarily have to knock the other guy out in some matches. You just have to be standing at the end of the match. Listen, you do not have to feel like a victor at the end of the bout. After taking lick after lick, you may feel like a van has run over you. You do not have to look like a champ. You might look like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone. All you have to do is still be standing when the bell rings.
“Therefore, put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand in the evil day, and having done all to stand. Stand.” – Ephesians 6:13