The perfect partner when you’re about to be thrown out of the ring
By Dean Collins
OK, this is embarrassing to admit. When I was in the ninth grade, I went with my friend Mike who had front row seats to watch championship wrestling at Fort Homer Hesterly Armory in Tampa. We saw the early seventies version of wrestlers like The Rock. In a front row seat you sometimes had wrestlers get thrown out of the ring and literally into your lap. It might have been fake blood, but it sure looked like a lot of struggling and pain in those highly choreographed matches. I’m thinking today about front row seats to fake fights filled with phony physical suffering and agony—the memory makes me shake my head and smile.
Often they had what was called a tag team match. If a wrestler was in trouble and he could get close enough to the ropes and reach out a hand, his partner could jump in and take his place. Just when the wrestler thought he might get knocked out or have his shoulder dislocated, his partner would save him. With the help of his partner, the match would be won. Then, together in the center of the wring, the two wrestlers would hold up their hands to declare victory. Lifting their shiny, huge championship belts above their heads, they strutted and smiled as the fans cheered in adoration. What had looked to be certain defeat was suddenly glory.
It wouldn’t be much later in life that, like you, I discovered some of the real pain and suffering we all see and experience eventually. Sometimes it’s enough to set us back on our heels and wonder if we will make it through the challenge. In those moments we long for the ability to reach out and tag a partner to finish the fight for us.
A better scenario
In Romans 8 Paul described a better scenario for us as we struggle in our weaknesses. Jesus promised his disciples that when he left this earth for heaven he would leave his followers an Advocate and a helper, the Holy Spirit, to guide us, support us, comfort us, and get us through any and all suffering. Paul speaks of that Advocate in this passage.
He indicates that, even when things get so difficult we can’t find or form the words to pray, the Holy Spirit can be so in touch with our needs that he intercedes for us to the very throne of God. God’s will is for us to know and experience his love, his peace, and one day his victory. And it was always God’s plan to see us through this life so that we could receive an eternity with him free of suffering and surrounded by his glory.
According to Paul in this epistle, we have been called by God, conformed to his image, justified by Christ, and glorified. All of this because God is for us and not against us. We may find ourselves in moments where difficulties seem against us, people might be against us, health and financial concerns might be against us, but never will God be against us.
God loves us so much that he held nothing back. He sent his only son to die for us. He graciously gave his life and graciously still gives us everything we need to endure anything in this current moment.
Paul was convinced through his knowledge of God and by direct experience that nothing would ever separate us from the love of Christ. He wrote, “ I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
A better Helper
Don’t panic when things look bleak. Don’t worry when you want to pray and ask for help but you can’t even find the words or the energy to speak. In those moments the Holy Spirit is already actively engaging God on your behalf. Jesus indicated that in this life we will have many troubles but that he has already been victorious over all of them on our behalf.
The wrestling I watched as a teenager was silly, yet I found myself hoping the good guys would somehow survive and see their reward. As a follower of Jesus I now know that even when we weren’t good, even in our weakest moments, God showed up for us. He not only showed up but he made it possible to take us at our ugliest and transform us into his likeness. And then he filled us with his Spirit so we are never alone or abandoned. There is no wishful thinking needed as we face the challenges in our lives. We can be confident that, even in the face of death itself, we are but a moment away from the glory of God.
Hold on confidently and let go gracefully. God is with us and for us in every moment both now and forever!
Your time with God’s Word
Romans 8:26-39; John 16:7, 13-15, 22-24, 33 NIV
Photo by Martin Kníže on Unsplash
