Tag Archives: Rocky IV

Developing the Will to Love Your Soulmate

Posted on August 16, 2023 by expressyourself4him

Developing the will to love is similar to Olympic and professional athletes who develop the will to win. The context of today’s featured passage is referencing the Corinthian Games, also known as the Isthmian Games. This first century Track and Field event would take place in the years opposite of the Olympic Games held in nearby Athens, Greece.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners compete, but [only] one receives the prize? So run [your race] that you may lay hold [of the prize] and make it yours. 25 Now every athlete who goes into training conducts himself temperately and restricts himself in all things. They do it to win a wreath that will soon wither, but we [do it to receive a crown of eternal blessedness] that cannot wither, 1 Corinthians 9:24-25.

Developing your own athletic and spiritual abilities have one thing in common: practice. As a former cross-country runner in high school, I forced myself to run five days a week every summer. Since my parents always spent a few weeks every August in the state of Maine, this included running in the mountains and being chased by stray dogs. Developing the will to love your soulmate can be just as painful.

Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary. 27 But [like a boxer] I buffet my body [handle it roughly, discipline it by hardships] and subdue it, for fear that after proclaiming to others the Gospel and things pertaining to it, I myself should become unfit [not stand the test, be unapproved and rejected as a counterfeit], 1 Corinthians 9:26-27.

Like Slyvester Stallone in Rocky IV, willing to love involves pushing your body to its limits. Meanwhile, the father of lies, John 8:44, will plant subtle selfish thoughts into your mind. Unless you learn to take your thoughts captive, 2 Corinthians 10:5-6, your will to love your soulmate will be stunted. Therefore, pump your mind with spiritual truths from Colossians 3:12-17 so that the will to love prevails with Jesus’ help, Philippians 4:13.

by Jay Mankus

Leave a comment

Posted in Truth and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Intense and Unfailing Love

Posted on March 18, 2022 by expressyourself4him

My parents took me to see Rocky I in the theaters in 1976. When Rocky III debuted 6 years later, this coincided with an inner desire to become a great athlete. The theme song Eye of the Tiger was a daily goal, striving to possess the same intensity of a prized fighter in each of my sports competitions. Two years later, I became a running machine while training for cross country just like Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV. Unfortunately, my high school years were full of intensity but lacked love and understanding.

Above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and [e]disregards the offenses of others], 1 Peter 4:8.

Intense refers to an extreme degree, force, or strength in which you pursue something. While intense is often associated with competitions, Peter urges first century Christians to pursue their spiritual lives with the same passion. In the passage above, Peter appears to reference Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 6:14-15. At the end of the Lord’s Prayer, forgiving and loving others is essential for being forgiven by God. This is the purpose and reason for pursuing intense and unfailing love.

You have granted me life and favor, and Your providence has preserved my spirit. 13 Yet these [the present evils] have You hid in Your heart [for me since my creation]; I know that this was with You [in Your purpose and thought], Job 10:12-13.

Whether I like it or not, I have become more like my father as I grow older. My passion for sports has faded, put on hold to become a better father and spiritual life coach for my children. While I am far from the earthly father that God wants me to be, the missing ingredient is an unfailing love like Jesus. Regardless of what has happened in life, all bitterness, grudges, and pain must be released and let go of for good. If I can exchange my intensity for sports and replace it with God’s unfailing love, forgiveness and reconciliation will become a reality on earth.

by Jay Mankus

Leave a comment

Posted in Truth and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Run with Certainty

Posted on July 7, 2020 by expressyourself4him
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3js03r6PeJk

After spending 4 years running cross country in high school, my college career lasted a week. The coach who recruited me and spoke at my high school banquet didn’t know my name on the first day of practice. Everything that I thought to be true about my potential in college was a lie. I’ve never been a quitter, but I lost my sense of purpose after 5 days. I didn’t have the energy to even make it on the junior varsity team. I guess you can say I lost that loving feeling for running if there is such a thing.

Therefore I do not run uncertainly (without definite aim). I do not box like one beating the air and striking without an adversary, 1 Corinthians 9:26.

Intramural sports kept me in shape after I gained the freshman 25. I suppose breaking the dorm record by eating 9 cheese steaks in 30 minutes wasn’t such a good idea. Anyway, as my first set of mid-term exams arrived, I used running as a study break to clear my mind. Some nights I took a slow jog around campus. When finals stared me in the face, running became like a break from life. Listening to the sound track to Rocky IV provided me to the adrenaline to fly around campus before returning to my books.

Therefore then, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [who have borne testimony to the Truth], let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance (unnecessary weight) and that sin which so readily (deftly and cleverly) clings to and entangles us, and let us run with patient endurance and steady and active persistence the appointed course of the race that is set before us, Hebrews 12:1.

Thirty years and another fifty pounds later, I have limited my running to the spiritual kind. While eluding to the Corinthian Games, a popular track and field event during the first century, Paul talks about the mindset runners possess. Instead of listening to your body, long distance runners enter a trance like state, focused on what’s ahead while maintaining a steady stride. When you run with certainty, there’s no doubt you’ll cross the finish line. Christian’s don’t leave their old life behind to follow Jesus just hoping to get into heaven. Rather, we run with certainty, 1 John 5:13.

by Jay Mankus

Leave a comment

Posted in Truth and tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

There’s No Easy Way

Posted on August 3, 2012 by expressyourself4him

My favorite song from the Rocky movies comes from Rocky IV.  The song No Easy Way Out by Robert Tepper follows the argument Rocky and Adrian have about fighting Ivan Drago, causing Rocky to leave home abruptly, racing away in his sports car as the song commences.  In the chorus, the song talks about not having a short cut home.  While people take short cuts in life daily, there’s unusually no easy way out of trials.

In Acts 8:18-19, Simon tries to take a short cut as a Christian, asking Peter if he could purchase the Holy Spirit.  Since Simon had been an illusionist, a magician of the highest order, he figured there was a way around the red tape, another way to accessing the Holy Spirit.  Unfortunately, we live in a culture where people continue to look for instant gratification, without doing the work it takes to achieve Philip like status, Acts 8:6-7.  In the end, there is no easy way to heaven as Simon learned from Peter’s response in Acts 8:20-23.

As I attempt to pick up the pieces of another broken dream, the chorus of No Easy Way Out keeps replaying in my mind.  While I am suffering from job application fatigue, I have to pick myself up and keep on plugging away.  Rocky moved to Russia, living in isolation to prepare for his Christmas Day fight verse Drago.  Therefore, I need to recognize there is no easy way to my next full time position.  All I can do is rest in the promise of Isaiah 40:30-31 as I try to keep in step with the Holy Spirit as Philip demonstrates in Acts 8:26-39.

by Jay Mankus

1 Comment

Posted in Uncategorized and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.