I have always been a fan of boxing. For some reason I got interested in boxing many years ago. One of my most vivid memories in early childhood was hearing my cousins who were in their teens, talk about a fight that Sonny Liston won against Floyd Patterson. That was so many years ago, yet I still remember hearing how he took the World Heavyweight Championship from Patterson. Over the years boxers have come: Frasier, George Foreman, Muhammed Ali with his little ditty that he would say to reporters around the ring – "I float like a butterfly and sting like a bee". Then of course, the movies that have brought boxing into our living rooms: Rocky with Sylvester Stallone, Million Dollar Baby more recently.
When you look at boxing, there are two guys in the ring with a referee to try and keep things fair (if one could use that word with boxing). Apart from that, there's a crowd of people who are baying for their blood; they cheer every punch. If somebody goes down, there's a group of people who are yelling at him to stay down while another group are yelling at him to get up and fight. I don't know if you have watched a boxing match for real (not the ones from the movies), but when you see someone who's taken a lethal punch and gone down. The camera pans in on his face and you see his eyes. Sometimes there's just nothing left there; there's just resignation. He's not getting up. He's down and out and has no motivation to get up despite all the screaming for him to do so. He's taken that kind of a blow.
Life sometimes can be like that. We can almost be in that ring, taking on fights every day. These fights come in different forms, in different situations and circumstances. Sometimes we take a beating. After maybe a couple of times of being down and out, we wonder whether to really heed the other half of us that is saying, "Just stay down. Don't bother getting up. It's too difficult. There's no point getting up, you're only going to get knocked down again."
Sometimes these fights happen in our relationships. We're in a slugging match with our spouse maybe, or an office colleague, and it doesn't seem to be getting better. Any time spent together is always a fight. You're at a point where you're saying, "I'm down and out and I think I'm just going to stay down on the mat."
Maybe it has to do with a promotion that hasn't come your way. It's a new financial year, what you expected hasn't come through. You've been waiting for this promotion for a long time. You've given it your best but this is about the nth time and you're done. "I don't have any more stuff to give." It could be a bad appraisal, no increment or any of those things. Maybe you're back on a home loan that should have been paid a while back and the interest is piling up. But you're on the mat and saying, "Life is dishing out one thing after another and I'm at the point where I don't want to get up."
Maybe that's who you are today. You're on the mat maybe emotionally, intellectually, spiritually or even physically. You don't know what to do and it seems like the best thing is to just stay down so that you won't get hit again. Sometimes when we're down on that mat and see other people fall, we gain comfort from that. The old adage is true: "Misery loves company." We can find friendships on the mat. But that friendship is not going to get anybody out. Friendships of people on the mat are like crabs. You never have to put a lid on a container of crabs because if one crab tries to get out, the other crabs will try to pull it down immediately.
I wonder if some of us are on the mat today or have been for some time. I've just crawled into a shell and said, "Life is dishing out more than I can handle. I'm fed up of treading water and trying to keep my head above. I think I'm going to just stay down. My friends, to each of you on this call, as gently as I can, I want to say, "You need to get up. You need to get off that mat."
There's an old saying: A ship may be safe in harbor, but that's not why it was built. It was never built to stay in the harbor. It was built to sail on 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. God Almighty, when He put us together, gave us all that we need to be able to face every situation and circumstance that comes our way. With His help, we can get up and really find purpose even for the situations that we are in or why they are happening to us.
Sometimes we look at life in a pessimistic way. We only see the half-empty glass. Or we look at the light at the end of the tunnel and think that there's a train coming through, ready to crush us. Or we see dark clouds and think that it's going to rain again and we're going to get drenched. I want to encourage you to change that perspective, to look at that glass and see it as half-full, the potential that is still left there and that there is still the ability left to do something in life. Look at the light at the end of the tunnel as a ray of hope shining through. Look up at those dark clouds and see the silver lining of the sun trying to shine through. That's hope that each one of us must cling to, even in difficult times when we are down and out.
One of my favorite passages that comes out of our Scriptures says (Isaiah 42:3) "A bruised reed he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish."
Reeds are stems that grow out of marshy ground and years ago; they were used as quills for writing. But as people walked through them, they would snap very easily. God is saying, "If you're a bruised reed, I will not let you break. Even if you're a dimly burning candle just about to die out, I will not let you get extinguished."
Maybe this morning we just need to put our hands over our hearts and feel the throb of life, realize that we are not dead. There is life in us. And if there's life, then there's still a purpose for what we can do in this life.
Many years ago I had a dream that has stayed with me. I dreamed that I was in a hole and I couldn't get out even though I tried everything. I looked all around me and just couldn't find a handle to get out. Finally I cried out and said, "God, you've got to help me. I can't get out on my own strength." And I heard God saying, "Look up!" I did and there was this hand just above my head and He said, "All you have to do is take it."
Maybe this morning, you're looking all around you for ways to get out and God is just saying, "Look up. Take my hand. I'll get you out of this hole."
It's quite possible that you're listening to me and saying, "That's not where I am. I'm in a good place today. I'm not on the mat. I'm really doing the best that I've done my whole life. Life is going well." I'm really glad for you if that's where you are. But I want to say this to you: When you put down this phone at the end of this call and reach your place of work, I want you to look into the eyes of your colleagues and see whether you see folks that are on the mat. Maybe you need to lift them up. Maybe the life has gone out of them. There's no spark in them. Maybe you can say, "Let me help you this morning." The world is full of people who can walk on by, but we need people who will stop and say, "Let me help you."
One of the favorite serials that I watched is 'The West Wing'. In it, there's a story of one person called Josh who is going through a difficult time and as he was coming out, he met Leo, for whom he worked. Leo asked him how he was doing and he said, "You really waited up for me all this time?" and he replied "Yeah, I did." When asked why, Leo said, "Let me tell you a story. A man was walking and fell into a hole and he tried everything but couldn't get out. Finally he heard footsteps and called out for help. It was a doctor who said "Sure" and wrote him a prescription and threw it down. Then a priest passed by and he asked him for help and the priest wrote a prayer and threw it down. Then he heard Joe pass by and called out to him. Joe looked down and then jumped down. The guy looked at Joe and said, "You're stupid. Why did you jump down? Now we're both in the hole." And Joe said to him, "No, the difference is that I've been here before and I know how to get out."
Maybe this morning you've been there before. Maybe you need to look around at colleagues who are in a hole and say, "Hey, I can get you out because I know the way out." Or maybe you just need to trust God and say, "I'm still here. I still have breath and life. God has a purpose for me." You need to reach out and take His hand. Either way, I think we have a job we need to do: to either look up and say that I'm not going to be on the mat and going to do what it takes or maybe to look at others and say, "Today I'm going to help somebody." My prayer is that you would.
Let me pray with you. Almighty God, bless each one on this call. If we're on the mat today, somehow would You come and take our hand as we lift it up to You and lift us up out of the hole. Give us fresh eyes to see, give us new vigor and energy and strength and stamina. Help us to see that You have a purpose for us. Lord, if we are fine today, give us eyes of compassion as we look at people around in our offices. Help us to see emptiness and then walk in and lend a helping hand and say, "I've been there before. I know how to get out. I'll help you out." I pray your blessing on each one on this call in the name of Jesus. Amen.
• Sonny Liston vs Floyd Patterson, Sept 25 1962, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Muhammed Ali, Sylvester Stallone's Rambo & Million Dollar Baby.
• Isaiah 42:3: "A bruised reed...."
• "The West Wing" TV series with Leo McGary & Josh Lyman
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