I don’t know about you but I don’t like to lose. I hate it. I especially hate it when I give my all to something and come up short. It’s much easier when I don’t try that hard to accept defeat. There are few things more stinging however, than giving it your all and losing. I’m on resolution #56 of the 70 resolutions of Jonathan Edwards and it says…

Resolved, Never to give over, nor in the least to slacken, my fight with my corruptions, however unsuccessful I may be.

We all have a lot of shortcomings…a lot of corruptions. Things about us that we wish we could just change but just can’t seem to get it right. Edwards’ message to us here is simple. Never…stop…fighting. If you lose a battle with alcoholism, continue to wage war. If you lose a fight with anxiety and have a panic attack, keep striving for peace. If you lose a bout with anger and say something you don’t mean, apologize and keep fighting for healing. Keep fighting. Even if it feels like 2 steps forward and 3 steps back…keep fighting.

If you do you will be able to put your head on the pillow at night knowing that you didn’t quit. There are some things that we can control and some things we can’t. I’m OK if I end up dying in the arena losing a fight that I needed to engage in. I’m not OK however…and none of us should be OK with staying scared on the sidelines wondering what it would be like to go all in.