Prove I am not a mistake
I love a good story line in a movie. You give me a good story line and I am hooked and in. Of course one movie that has always had me hooked is the Rocky series. Recently they rebooted the series with the son of Apollo Creed, Adonis. What a cool name right? I have tried to talk Sarah into using this as a name if our next baby is a boy but I digress she is not as on board as I am.
Both of the movies are fraught with amazing storylines. In the first movie we are introduced to Adonis who was adopted as a young kid by Apollo's wife.He has been fighting his whole life to create a name for himself. He fought in juvie when people would mock who his mother was. He fought growing up to make a name for himself, refusing to use the name Creed. At the end of the movie he has been given the chance to have a fight with a title holder looking to make a name for himself before he goes off to prison.
Adonis is looking for his identity. He is looking for who he is. In the final fight he is going toe to toe with the champ (of course he is, right). In a “lump in your throat” moment, in the penultimate round, Adonis gets hit and goes down and is knocked out cold. His mother is at home and she stands up screaming. His girlfriend in the crowd starts to scream at him to get up. Rocky is in his corner and is yelling out to him. I get emotional just writing about this.
As he hits the canvas his whole life is flashing before his eyes. He flashes back to the first moment when he met his mom in juvie, his mind brings back Rocky struggling through chemo treatment, his girlfriend locking him out of her life, and a moment of his father fighting of which he has watched probably hundreds of times. All fades away as he comes roaring to reality and back to life. He gets back up, the ref checks his gloves and he finishes the round getting hit time after time.
As he gets to his corner, one of his eyes is now completely closed and the other is nearly closed. Rocky tosses water in his face trying to wake him up. Rocky tells him that he is going to stop this fight, if you have followed the franchise Rocky did not throw in the towel when Apollo fought the Russian and it cost Apollo his life. Rocky is not going to let this happen again.
This has now hit home for Rocky, it is not just another fight.
Adonis pleads with him, “please don’t let me finish, I gotta prove it.”
Rocky, “prove what?”
Adonis, “That I am not a mistake.”
WOW. Heart rip out for moment Rocky and Adonis...and us.
Adonis has been chasing his identity his whole life. He has been running from the idea that he is a mistake.
This is me.
Rob Reimer shares that the power of the lie is in our agreement with it.
Adonis for so long wanted to believe that he was not just some mistake that happened. Now I know that I am not a mistake, but I believe the lie of where my identity is located. In Ephesians 4 Paul urges us to live a life “worthy” of our calling. He calls us to live a life worthy of our identity, worthy of who we have been created to be. He has called me, he has called you.
Paul calls us to live a life “where your identity shapes your destiny, where who you are permeates how you live. If you only believe what God believes about you, it would revolutionize the way you live.” - Rob Reimer
That is the power of a Creed right hook. That is the power of the endurance of going toe to toe with a prize fighter.
God has called me to live in his identity for me. How he sees me. Stop dropping my head, eyes up. I have to tell myself often, stop dropping your head, lift it up. God created you for something greater.
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Rocky says you are going to do this because of your identity, “because you are a CREED!”
We often hear these words, “you are not good enough for God’s love. Do you think that He will actually forgive you again? He does not want to hear from you.”
Separate. Isolate. Destroy. ALL LIES!
You have nothing to prove to God. You do not have to prove your a not a mistake. You do not have to prove that the last few years of your life are a mistake.
You MUST hold on to the truth, precisely at the moment that the lie is vying for a position in your heart and in your soul and in your behaviors. - Rob Reimer, Soul Care
I think that my identity is in flux. It is never in flux. Not to God.
In the final 15 seconds of the fight, the fight commentator says this, “Creed spins and puts the champ in the corner, throwing body shots like he is Rocky Balboa, going upstairs like he is Apollo Creed.” And Creed knocks the champ to the canvas for the first time in his career.
What would be said of us if we lived out our identity like this? If we went to the body of our enemy like Jesus did in the wilderness? If we went up top like God has done for us against the enemy when we are attacked?
Rocky says you are going to get up and fight. Fight with your identity, because you are a CREED!
Hold onto your identity Ryan, because you are MY SON! You are a CHILD OF GOD! Can you feel that? Can you live in that identity? Live worthy of the identity you have been called to.
