Battle Wounds from the Good Fight

By Jennifer E. Jones

"How much can you know about yourself if you've never been in a fight? I don't wanna die without any scars..." - Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club

I was thinking this morning about what it means to be in a fight. As a woman, it's not quite the rite of passage as it is for a man. However, I fought enough with my brothers as a child that I'm aware of the mechanics of it.

Most people agree that a fight that's one-sided isn't really a fight. That's just a beating. That's a bully taking advantage of someone weaker than he or she is. A real fight is back and forth; you trade blows.

The keeping of one's faith is similar. If you want to be a Christian or even remotely God-conscious, this life will fight you for it. It's going to hit you, and as noted in the last Rocky movie, nobody hits harder than life. The world tries to take your joy and your peace with every unwanted circumstance, every unexpected tragedy, and every unforeseen pitfall.

So what do you do? You can curl up in the fetal position, block your face and just take it. Truthfully, there are times when that's the only thing you can do. Some hardships are simply tests of endurance.

You can help the enemy by inflicting wounds on yourself. That's when you just agree with every negative thought that comes in: "I'm not good enough, not smart enough, etc." Your opponent doesn't have to do anything then. You will beat yourself up.

Then there's the third option: you can fight. You fight by remembering God's promise that no weapon formed against you will succeed at taking you down (Isaiah 54:17). You hide His words in your heart and wear them out on your sleeve. You stand up against the lies that seek to sink your ship.

And it's going to be rough. You'll get wounded. You'll get dazed. The enemy doesn't fight fair, and he's very aware of your weak points. Don't think for a moment that he won't sucker punch you right where it hurts.

It's difficult to imagine emerging from any fight without scars. Even Jesus has scars. He showed them to the disciples after His resurrection (Luke 24:39). In fact, His scars were proof that He had died and came back to life. I think our scars bare the same resemblance. They are the evidence that we are overcomers. They qualify us to speak to those in pain and say, "I've been there."

So, keep your head up. You'll lose a few battles, but remember that you've already won the war.

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. -- I Timothy 6:12 [NIV]