Wrastlin'

      When our oldest son began seventh grade he asked us if he could wrestle. I did not know anything about the sport of wrestling but I quickly learned as we sat through his first match. YIKES!! I clung to the arm rests of the bleacher seat as I watched my son and his opponent being contorted and twisted into pretzel-like shapes! Those six minutes seemed to stretch into a nerve-wracking eternity for this mother!

     He wrestled for his seventh and eighth grade years but did not want to continue in high school (thank goodness!). However, our second son declared that he wanted to wrestle when he entered seventh grade! I did my best to talk him out of it (what a terrible mother I was) but he insisted. I once again endured the maternal trauma of watching the limbs of one of my beloved children being distorted. This son decided he would continue wrestling through high school! I learned to relax and breathe during his matches, and enjoyed watching him pit his strength against another lad (and one lass), but I never did get used to the intensity (blood, sweat, and tears) of that sport!

     Wrestling is interesting in that it is both an individual and a team sport. Based on body weight, two opponents are pitted against each other using their strength and skill. The score of their match is then added to the total team score. While that one teammate is on the mat, the coaches are barking encouragement and orders (our son’s coaches were excellent role models of faith), the entire team is cheering their teammate on, and the fans are yelling their support! Depending on the skills of the wrestlers, a match can last the full six minutes (or more) or be over in seconds. The winning success of the team is based on the performance of the individual.

     The apostle Paul used sporting images in several of his letters to the early churches (1 Cor 9:24-27; Phil 3:12-14; 1 Tim 6:12; and 2 Tim 4:7-8). Perhaps as he watched the runners and the fighters at the games in Corinth the Holy Spirit stirred his imagination to see the discipline and commitment an athlete makes to his sport as similar to that which the disciple of Jesus Christ needs during his or her own faith “race.”

     I gained a similar image as I watched my sons wrestle. As individual believers we are to train and discipline ourselves because we never know when we will encounter the Opponent who will try to control, pin, and destroy us.

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Eph 6:12 KJV

     We must be prepared to offer our absolute all-out effort! But we are not alone—the Coach (Holy Spirit) surrounds us with his presence and power, “barking” encouragement and reminding us of the Word of God. The entire team, brothers and sisters in Christ, and the “great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:1) are there to cheer each other on, to pray, encourage, exhort, soothe wounds, and celebrate victories!  The winning success of the team (Body of Christ) is based on the Cornerstone individual performance of Jesus Christ (1 Pet 2:4-5) who calls, redeems, and equips all individuals who believe in him as Lord and Savior!

     So keep on keeping on! Exercise your spiritual muscles as you kneel before your Head Coach, Jesus Christ! Be encouragers of your brothers and sisters!

“Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:8

 Wrastlin' for Jesus!