Winning a competition is extremely satisfying. After all the hard work you put into practicing your art, you not only overcome your adversary, but you also overcome yourself. In this way, winning does not just mean that you come in first place. Sometimes winning just means you overcame the odds. In the first Rocky movie, Rocky does not win the heavyweight title, but he still won in the sense that he “went the distance” and fought for fifteen rounds against a superior opponent.

Similarly, our spiritual contest is not about dominating others and competing with others. Rather, it is simply about having the endurance to go the distance. In a sense, Jesus has already conquered our adversary and hindered Satan from defeating us. While Satan still works to sabotage our success, ultimately, we have everything we need to defeat him. John assures us of this (1 John 5:4).

I love to look at the first Rocky movie as an allegory for my spiritual journey. The guy was punched in the face more times than humanly possible. His face looked like a purple balloon. Yet he kept on getting back up off the mat. He kept fighting. He went the distance despite his extreme injuries. Likewise, “we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Cor 4:8, 9, 11). I hope that every time you get knocked down, you choose to rise up again. Even if you are bloody and bruised, all that matters is that you finish the race.