There once was a wrestler who was undefeated. He wasn’t the best, the strongest or the fastest but he never backed down and he had the scars to prove it. His nose was no longer straight, his face was bruised and a part of one of his ears was missing. Yes, he knew that he didn’t look good but those scars were proof that he could cope, that he had never backed down.
He was the undefeated wrestler and he could cope.
His opponents would gang up on him to try to defeat him but every time they knocked him down, he would get to his feet again and carry on.
He was the undefeated wrestler and he could cope.
He had been hit, kicked, and attacked in so many ways and he was proud of the way that had coped with it all. His pride would have caused him to grin if it wasn’t too painful to do so.
He was the undefeated wrestler and he could cope.
Then, one day it happened. As the wrestler was about to win again, his opponent was joined by several other wrestlers who had had enough. They had arrived together to put the undefeated wrestler down for good. They leapt at him and as he fell to the ground there was a huge cracking sound as his leg broke. The wrestler felt the pain shooting through his body but he was determined and so, believing that he could cope with anything he began to stand.
After all, he was the undefeated wrestler and he could cope.
Through sheer determination and the use of the ropes around the ring he got up and was able somehow to balance on one leg.
‘Come on’ he shouted as his opponents advance, ‘you’ll never beat me’.
He was the undefeated wrestler and he could cope.
As the first opponent hit him he fell backwards towards his corner and as he fell he saw a hand reach out. In desperation, the wrestler tagged his partner in before he hit the floor. His partner leapt into the ring and said ‘boo’ and the fearsome opponents all ran away.
The wrestler lay on the floor in absolute confusion. He had fought for so long and so hard and it had cost him so much, why had he believe that he could or should cope alone?
Although he had never tagged his team-mate in before, they had never given up on him. His partner was always there with an outstretched arm waiting to be tagged in. The wrestler’s victories had cost him so much and yet his team-mate had won with ease, why had he never tagged him before?
It makes me sad to think that people really do believe that they should be able to manage by themselves. Many of us do have physical, emotional and spiritual scars that we bear only because we did try to cope alone.
God longs for us to let go and to tag him into our lives. What is difficult for us is easy for him and we just need to turn away from the lie that we are supposed to be able to manage by ourselves and to call on him.
The Bible says that God’s power is made perfect in weakness and one of the reasons for this (as the wrestler found out) is that when we are weak and we can no longer cope then we have to call on God.
As the wrestler lay on the mat, it occurred to him that he was still undefeated. His team-mate had ensured that they were victorious.
He thought about getting back in the ring as soon as possible and then he considered how he would work with his team-mate the next time he wrestled.
What would be different?
He was the undefeated wrestler and ….
As we go through each day in the ring of life, how will we partner with Jesus? If you want to think about this some more then click here to read about what this partnership can look like.
Remember that you don’t have to cope alone.
Remember that God is waiting to be tagged in.
Honest about my faith 
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