Now I don’t know about you, but I was not born a Christian. I got used to dealing with these “just life” scenarios my own way. Being a single mother of four children, I wanted to give up many, many times. I was dealing with divorce, never ending financial struggles, loneliness, the disappointment of not achieving personal and professional goals, depression, and the list could go on and on. Before I came to Christ, it was always the thought of my children that kept me hanging on to face another day. I knew I had to get through whatever I was going through to take care of them because there was no one else to take care of them.
One day I was going through yet another upset in my life when a friend asked me, “Have you tried Jesus?”
Of course, the answer was no. Every time I was dealing with an issue in my life, he would ask me that. He asked me that so much that I eventually shut him out and didn’t tell him anything. However, at some point, I started to listen to him because he was actually the one that led me to Christ.
It was the most important decision I’d ever made in my life. I was bursting with new found joy and clarity. I felt as if I could take on the whole world single handedly. Literally, everything seemed bright, new, and shiny. Can you imagine my shock when I realized that giving my life to Christ did not make all my problems disappear and neither did it stop other things from continuing to come?
I still had to fight and struggle to just make it through some days. And yes, I must admit I’ve lost heart a few times as well, but somewhere along the line I ran across the scripture 1 Corinthians 9:26, “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.
In our lives, we are always fighting whether we are Christians or not. As I mentioned before, I used to fight for the purpose of being there for my children. Those times when I wanted to quit or walk away, I would think of them being small and defenseless with no one to take care of them. Now I’m hanging in there to reach my expected end. I’m not fighting as a person with no aim or purpose, but fighting to stay with God because He has now become the contender in the ring against every situation, circumstance, or issue. He is able to handle every upset far better than I ever could.
So fight I to allow Him to be God in my life. So fight I to make time to commune and fellowship with Him. So fight I to not let my emotions lead me, but to fully rely on God. So fight I to live life daily to be an example of God’s love and compassion. So fight I for my faith to believe God wants what’s best for me.
Do I still get caught up in my natural, fleshy self? Without hesitation, the answer is yes. If I didn’t, there would be no need to fight. Also, if we didn’t have to fight through ourselves and human ways, there would have been no need for Jesus to be a human example for us.
Although obstacles and hurdles remain in our lives whether we accept Jesus or not, we have to choose to make it through them to live another day. And yes, as a Christian, this is a day by day journey. All days are not sunny, but all days are not rainy either. However, all days are conquerable with God. Whatever comes our way, we must engrave this quote in our hearts, “So fight I.”