Fight to the Finish

It was a rather gruesome discovery. A landowner in northern Ohio was walking a trap line on his farm when he came across the bodies of two deer that had died after locking their antlers together in what was probably a territorial dispute. The smaller buck had sustained several severe injuries in the fight, including the broken neck that had killed it. But the larger of the two animals, although apparently winning the battle, lost his life as well. Unable to free himself from his opponent, the dead weight of the other animal on his head had forced his face and nostrils into the dirt, suffocating him.

Too often we do battle with others over what we perceive to be our rights or concerning issues that are insignificant in the long run. In the ensuing skirmish we may be victorious over our enemy and yet lose our own spiritual lives as well. The resentment we feel becomes a dead weight from which we are unable to shake free and which eventually smothers the very life of Christ in us. Just as the deer were unable to separate their antlers to free themselves, neither will we escape what we have coming to us if we harbor malice towards others.

The next time we're tempted to "lock horns" with someone we should remember that it could very well be a fight to the finish... for both of us.

"But I say to you that everyone who continues to be angry with his brother or harbors malice (enmity of heart) against him shall be unable to escape the punishment imposed by the court..."
(Matthew 5:22 AMP)