Rising above the 'Daily Struggle'

A week or two back I was looking at a newspaper and it had a picture of our boxers coming home with medals. I thought to myself, ‘Life is sometimes like a boxing match; we seem to be the ones in the ring with people all around either willing us on or willing us down.’ If we look at a boxing match (it is definitely more glamorized in the movies) there are always two guys slugging it out in the ring. Then one guy goes down and the other guy who is up and walking around, held by the referee, waiting for the guy who is down to get up. Half the crowd is willing the downed guy to get up and the other half are willing him to stay down.


Life can be like that. We are in a ‘ring’, taking on fights everyday and those fights come in different forms and different situations and circumstances. Sometimes we take a beating and after maybe a couple of times of being down and out, we wonder whether to heed to the half of us that is saying ‘just stay down and don’t bother getting up’, or to the other half that is saying, ‘get up, use this and move on.’

Sometimes those fights happen in our relationships – we are in a slugging match with our spouse maybe, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Anytime spent together is always a fight and you are at a point where you are saying, ‘I am down and out. I am just going to stay down on the mat.’ Or maybe it’s a promotion come your way. It’s a new financial year and what you expected, hasn’t come through and you’ve been waiting for this promotion for a long time and given it your best but this is the nth time and you’re done. You are saying, ‘I don’t have any more stuff to give.’ Or maybe it’s a bad appraisal for another year or no increment or maybe you are just back on your house loan, you are not able to get there and life is dishing out a beating after a beating.

Maybe today you are on the mat, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually or even physically. You are on the mat; you don’t know what to do and it seems like the best thing to do is to just stay down in the ring, don’t get up so you don’t get hit again. Sometimes when we are down on that mat and we see other people fall, we gain comfort from that. Together we have a community of people that have been hit and yet that community doesn’t go anywhere. The old adage “Misery Loves Company” is so true. We can find friendship on the mat but that friendship is not going to get anybody out. It’s like the crab; you never have to put a lid on a container of crabs because if one crab tries to get out the others will pull him down automatically.

I wonder whether some of you are on the mat today or have been for some time and just crawled into a shell and said, “Life is dishing out more than I can handle. I am fed up of treading water and trying to keep from going over my head.“ As gently as I can, I say this to you my friends, “You need to get up; get off that mat.”

There is a saying that goes: A ship may be safe in harbor, but that’s not why is was built. It was never built to stay in the harbor. It was built to sail on the stormy seas. It’s the same for you and me. We weren’t made to be on the mat and to live at that level. The Almighty God, when He put us together, gave us what it takes. With His help, get up and find the purpose for which we were created.

Sometimes we look at life and see the half empty glass. We look at life and see the light at the end of the tunnel and we think that it’s a train coming through, ready to crush us. Or we see the dark clouds and think it’s over for us. I want to encourage you this morning and say, “Will you look at that glass and see it half full – that there is still the ability to do something in this life? Will you look at that light at the end of the tunnel and say its hope? Maybe you need to look at the dark clouds and look for the silver lining, because in it there’s hope.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible is: (Isaiah 42:3) “A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.” Reeds are stems growing out of marshy ground that could be used as quills, but as people walked through, they snap very easily. But God is saying, “If you are a bruised reed, know this that I will not break you.” Then He goes on to say, “If you are a dimly burning wick (think of a candle just about to get extinguished and you feel like it’s your life – there’s no spark left and the flame has just a glowing ember) I will not extinguish you because you are my creation. I made you and as long as you have life, I am there by your side to help you.”

Maybe some of us this morning need to put our hands over our hearts and feel the throb or check our pulse and say, ‘I still have life and so I need to get off that mat. I need to be able to get up and do something.’

Many years ago I had a dream that has stayed with me. I dreamt that I was in a hole and couldn’t get out even though I tried everything. Finally in desperation I said, “God, you’ve got to help me. I can’t get out on my own strength.” And He said, “Look up.” I did and there was His hand just above my head and He said, “All you have to do is take it.”

I have never forgotten that picture. Whenever I find myself down and out, I look up and picture His hand there, the strong hand of the Almighty God, an all powerful God, ready to take me out of the hole that I am in. Our holes may be different; maybe it’s a strained relationship and maybe it’s time to fix it, go home this evening and say to your spouse ‘Let’s go out, have dinner together and fix this.’ Home is not a place where there should be tension. It must be a place of love and acceptance. Or maybe a promotion has got you down. Maybe God is saying to you, “I’ll show you a better way, another way of doing this.” As cricketers say, ’The only way to talk, is to let your bat or your bowling do the talking.’ Maybe it’s time to look at things in a different way, the way you haven’t been functioning in the office and say, ‘Maybe I haven’t got the increment or it wasn’t a good appraisal, but I’m going to try another way.’ Maybe it’s time to take charge along with God’s help.

Maybe you are on this call and are saying, ‘I am not where you are. For me life is going well.’ And I am so glad if that’s where you are. But I want to say this to you – when you put down the phone at the end of this call and reach your place of work, look into the eyes of your colleagues and see whether you see folks who are on the mat. Maybe you need to lift them up and say, “Hey, let me help you this morning.” The world is full of people who can walk on by.

The Bible has a story of a man who was waylaid, beaten, robbed and left to die. One holy man comes walking by, averts his eye and crosses the road. Another who works with this holy man comes and he too walks by. Then another man comes and he gets off his donkey, picks up this man, puts him on his donkey, takes him to an inn and says, ‘Listen guys, here’s the money, take care of him. If you run out, I will come back and pay you.’ Maybe that’s what’s needed today – for somebody on this call to go to somebody who is on the mat and say, ‘Hey, I’ll help you.’

So wherever you are this morning, I would like to say, ‘If you are on the mat, don’t’ stay there in the ring. Maybe you have lost that fight, but get out of the ring. Pick up the reins again. As long as you have life, you have the ability to do something. Don’t just sit and accept what’s going on around you or to you. Do something about it. And if it’s not happening to you, I plead with you today, put on the lens of compassion and look around your work space. Look for hollow eyes, beaten figures and say, ‘Today I am going to be a good help to somebody because I don’t want to see people on the mat, not on my watch.’

God Bless You All.