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Articles
Shadowboxing
Over the past few years, I have become a huge enthusiast of professional boxing. To me, there is nothing more exciting in all of professional sports, than to watch two highly-skilled athletes engage in “the sweet science” of prize fighting. Come over to my house on a Saturday night, and you’re liable to catch me watching a boxing match that evening. I am a big-time boxing fan!
Unlike most other sports, which emphasize team play, boxing is an individual competition, and as such, it requires a great deal of discipline and dedication. It should come as no surprise then, that the apostle Paul actually uses the imagery of a boxer to underscore the Christian’s need for self-control. In I Cor. 9:24-27, Paul writes: “Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway."
Paul says “so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.” If we were to translate this “beating the air” that Paul is describing in more modern terms, the word we would use would be “shadowboxing.” Shadowboxing is merely the act of throwing punches at no one in particular. It is going through the motions of a boxing match, before the actual match takes place. In short, it’s the idea of fighting an imaginary opponent.
Paul is saying “I’m not shadowboxing. I’m not just going through the motions. I’m not fighting some imaginary opponent. This is a real fight that we’re in, and I’m actively fighting the adversary.” Well just who is Paul’s adversary? None other than the exact same adversary we are fighting to this very day: the devil (I Pet. 5:8).
Make no mistake about it, the devil is real and he is waging a vicious assault on us through the flesh. He is pounding us with “the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I Jn. 2:16), every single day. He is bludgeoning us with temptations, left and right. He is clobbering us with persecutions and feelings of weariness. He’s pummeling us with his many “devices” (II Cor. 2:11). We cannot deny that the devil is putting up a relentless attack in this battle for our souls. Now the question is, are we fighting back, or are we just shadowboxing?
Many Christians are just shadowboxing. They’re going through the motions of a half-hearted Christianity. These are the ones who submitted to the waters of baptism, but did not actually change. These are the ones who like to hear good preaching every Sunday, but do not actually apply it to their lives. These are the ones who regularly attend the assemblies of the saints, but do not actually worship God in a reverent manner. These are the ones who would like for their friends and family to be saved, but do not actually share the gospel with them. These are the ones who believe in the truth of God’s word, but do not actually defend it when it’s being spoken evil of. These are the ones who want eternal life, but do not actually “fight the good fight of faith” (I Tim. 6:12) in order to attain it.
The only way we will win this fight, is if we stop shadowboxing, stop pretending, stop playing the role of hypocrite, and start fighting! And the key to any successful fight, is by doing what Paul says he did: “I discipline my body and make it my slave” (I Cor. 9:27 NAS). We must take control of our bodies and our minds, and bring them in tune with God’s will, so that we can overcome sin and apathy and idleness. Indeed, it is the only way we will be able to finally say with confidence “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day” (II Tim. 4:7-8).
