May 3 Bible Reading Plan

If you want to change things in a big way, you need to make some big changes.

-Rocky, Creed II

In the movie Creed II, Adonis Creed ignores his coach, Rocky's advice and takes a fight against the son of the man who killed his father, Apollo. As Rocky warned, the fight is a disaster. Donnie gets destroyed by Viktor Drago. He gets beaten so severely that he is in the hospital for weeks. But worse than the physical beating, the fight leaves Donnie a broken man.

He is mentally destroyed, unable to fight and find his way back into the ring. He appears to be down for the count.

Then something beautiful happens. Rocky comes and makes Donnie face his fears. He makes him see what is going on. Then, he offers a helping hand to help him up off the mental, defeated mat Donnie is living on.

What follows is one of the greatest training montages in film history. Rocky knows that if Donnie beats Drago in a rematch, he has to become unbreakable. So he takes him to the desert to a fight camp where fighters go to start over. In Rocky's words, "If you want to change things in a big way, you need to make some big changes." (1)

I love that line! Too many broken men never get unbroken because they keep going down the same path, make the same choices, and fall into the same sinful patterns. They stay broken because they don't do the work necessary to change. They do the same things, hoping for different results, but all that ends up happening is they get knocked on their butts again.

We cannot gain victory if we don't make changes in our lives. It's insane to think you can win using the same tactics in the battle as you did last time you fell into sin. Yet daily, men of God do just this.

Creed had to make big changes. He had to learn to take a beating, get tough, strengthen his core, endure, and never give up or stop fighting. Defeat was no longer an option. No matter how hard the punch, he had to stand. And if he got knocked down, he had to get back up and fight again.

Guys, you need to do the same things to become an unbreakable man.

Identify what caused you to lose in the past, and then do the opposite.

If you struggle with porn late at night, set a lock on your devices so you can't access it.

If you are flying off the handle when someone challenges you or questions you, start examining yourself and discover why. Then, do the opposite and accept the correction.

Do you struggle with lying and deceit? Vow only to speak honestly and truth, no matter the cost.

Newton (the scientist, not the fig guy) may have had a point when he said, "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." (2)

If your normal way of acting and living isn't leading to victory, it's time for a new plan of attack and a new way of living. While it may be scary, it is key to becoming an unbreakable man of God who settles for nothing less than living a victorious life.

Bibliography:

1. Creed II. Directed by Steven Caple JR. , performances by Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone , Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer New Line Cinema, 2018.

2. "Newton's Third Law." The Physics Classroom, www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-4/Newton-s-Third-Law. Accessed 9 Aug. 2024.