Wham! A gouging left-hook pierced his right eye. Boof! The world champion heavy-weight boxer threw another lethal strike. “Raaah! Whooo!” shouted the crowd, as Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa battled in the ring. Bif! Bam! Bop! With machine-like accuracy, Creed hammered Rocky’s bloodied face. And then Rocky went down, but he was not out—he slowly rose to his feet, weary but determined.
His handlers begged him to throw in the towel. But with blood streaming down his face, Rocky warned, “You stop this fight, and I’ll kill you!” Then he launched into Creed with the fury of a mad tiger. But even after fifteen rounds of ruthless beating, neither boxer delivered a knockout, and the fight was eventually called. The announcer declared from the mic, “Tonight we have had the privilege of witnessing the greatest exhibition of guts and stamina in the history of the ring!”
Rocky Balboa didn’t win the match, but he finished it. He endured until the end. He wasn’t trying to knock out Apollo Creed. He simply sought to go the distance and prove he could take a beating. To him, finishing well was better than winning every round.
Rocky was right, and the Scripture also teaches that endurance is better than winning every fight. When Paul the apostle was at death’s door, he did not say, “I have won the good fight,” but rather, “I have fought the good fight” (2 Tim. 4:7). The Christian life is not about avoiding failure entirely—it’s about getting back up in faith after being knocked down. True believers stay in the ring and rise for the next round through the strengthening grace of God. As Proverbs 24:16 says, “For the righteous falls seven times and rises again.”
No Christian can always slay their flesh, defeat the devil, or triumph over the enticements of this sinful world. But even when struck down, beaten-up believers can rise again because, “though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand” (Psalm 37:24). When flattened out on the canvas, the believer can say, “Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8). True believers can testify with Paul: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8-9).
So, don’t give up. Keep on keeping on. Endure until you hear the final bell—the trumpet of Christ’s return (1 Cor. 15:52). Finishing well is better than a perfect performance. As Rocky himself said, “It’s not about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward.”
Brandon is the pastor of Bandana Baptist Church in Bandana, Kentucky, where he lives with his wife, Dakota, and their three dogs. Brandon and Dakota previously served as foster parents through Sunrise Children’s Services of Kentucky. Brandon is also a published author and his Bible Gleanings columns are featured in over sixteen publications throughout Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, and Indiana. He is also a devotional contributor for Kentucky Today, a news publication of the Kentucky Baptist Convention, and an editor at Reforming the Heart.
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