It’s the eleventh round and it feels like you’ve been hit by a train.

The bell rings and you stumble back into the corner; the entire arena spinning around you. The noise of the crowd is deafening, yet you can’t make out a single face due to the blinding lights and reduced sight in your right eye.

You have taken your fair share of hits and it shows as you collapse on the stool and receive treatment. Your rival sits across the ring, seemingly in much better shape than you are feeling… self doubt and hopelessness enter in.

The choice to throw in the towel or dig deep and step back onto the mat weighs heavily on you. One option ending in unquestionable defeat while the other offering the chance to win the fight and take the championship title.

Doesn’t this mirror the daily grind we face? Consider the similarities…
You’ve just arrived home from work, and like a fighter in the eleventh round, you are exhausted. You have the choice to retreat into your corner or dig deep and engage with your family. You know in your heart what is the right thing to do, and likely desire to do just that… yet the pull to throw in the towel is overwhelmingly strong. And we all know what that looks like if we do… Like the crowd has left the building, the lights shut off and we are left with another loss under our belt.

Of course our family is not our opponent, but when our backs are against the ropes and the punches feel endless; we are left dazed and confused. It’s not just at home though… We face the same opposition with many situations throughout our day and while we may have the best of intentions, we are quickly drained of any and all motivation as the fight progresses on. We make excuses and more times than not will go the route of comfort; because is a championship title here really even worth it?

Yes, this fight can get tough… But make no mistake, it is worth it! The victory we can experience is unlike anything we can comprehend.

Men, we must keep our gloves up and stay focused. We cannot underestimate our opponent; his approach is deceitful and dirty. He will take the cheap shot when we turn our backs, and will mock us when we are down. He doesn’t care how he wins; only to embarrass us in front of the crowd and have us taking the walk of shame out of the arena.
Like any good fighter, we must be prepared; anticipating the types of hits we will face and train to block them seamlessly. Naturally, between throwing punches we are going to take some blows, but in the words of Rocky Balboa “it ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward…That’s how winning is done!”
So although we may feel like the underdog most days, we must remember in our corner sits the True Coach who will push us to keep going; who will lift our spirits and tend to our wounds. When we are ‘weary and burdened‘ between rounds, we are taught in Matthew 11:28 to Come… and He ‘will give us rest‘. He is our ‘strength and defense‘ as Exodus 15:2 says. With Him, we will come out on top, so long as we commit and allow Him to coach us through…
The Fight

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