You Vs You

Opening Message

Some of us are out here swinging like life is a heavyweight title fight, and the crazy part is, we’re the ones punching ourselves. We’re throwing hands with our own peace. We’re beating down our own purpose. And for what? Stress? Pressure to perform? The weight of pretending we’ve got it all figured out?

Nah. That’s not the way.

Truth is, life is already hard enough. But somewhere along the way, we made it harder. We told ourselves that we needed to prove something to the world, and we stopped listening to the One voice that was trying to save us from ourselves. We told God, “I got this,” and tried to bench the very One who authored the playbook.

Let me be clear, when I say You vs. You, I really mean Me vs. Me. I’m not above this. I almost walked away from my marriage. I almost took my own life. I almost told God to leave me alone. And for what? For pride? For control? For the illusion of happiness that this world offers and then snatches away?

It took me over 38 years to finally say yes to the attention God had been giving me my whole life. The answers I needed weren’t hidden. They were right there, waiting in the pages of the Bible, God’s Word, the most accessible truth in the world.

So this issue? This is me stepping into the ring with the only real opponent that’s ever held me back: myself.

Featured Scripture & Teaching

Romans 7:15–25 (ESV)

“For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

(v. 15)

This right here? It’s the fight. Paul is admitting what most of us are too afraid to say, “I don’t understand myself.” He wants to do right, but sin keeps swinging back. That’s you vs. you.

It’s not just temptation, it’s identity. The part of us that wants to please God is constantly battling the part of us that’s stuck in old habits, pride, shame, and control. We keep throwing punches at the version of us we’re trying to escape.

But Paul doesn’t leave us in that fight. He ends with this:

“Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

(v. 25)

That’s the answer. The only way to win the war within is to surrender. Jesus isn’t just a referee, He’s the one who steps into the ring and saves us from ourselves.

Testimony

“I Hated the Mirror”

I used to avoid mirrors like they owed me money.

Not because I was scared of how I looked, but because I couldn’t stand the man looking back. No matter how I trimmed my beard, no matter how fresh the fit, the mirror never lied. And the truth? I hated him. I hated me.

It wasn’t about weight, scars, or aging. It was deeper than that. It was what I carried behind my eyes, regret, failure, rage, guilt. I saw every woman I hurt. Every lie I told. Every fake smile. I saw a father who didn’t feel like he deserved his son. A husband who didn’t feel worthy of love. A believer who still doubted he was forgiven.

And the worst part? I talked to myself like I was trash. I beat myself up before anyone else could. I was fighting depression with shame, anxiety with pride, trauma with silence. I’d look in the mirror and whisper things no one else heard:

“You’ll never change.”

“God’s not really gonna use someone like you.”

“You’re just pretending to be healed.”

That was my fight. That was me vs. me.

And then something shifted. I didn’t win. I surrendered. I got tired of fighting with the truth. I got tired of trying to perform for God while bleeding behind closed doors. I stopped asking the mirror to love me, and I asked Jesus to redeem the man I kept hiding.

Now? I still see the scars. I still see the history. But I also see grace. I see a man that God didn’t give up on. I see a fighter, not because I never fall, but because I always get up.

This issue isn’t for the people who look perfect. This one’s for the ones who’ve been avoiding the mirror.

Look again. He’s not done with you.

Final Word: Lay Down Your Gloves

You’ve been fighting for a long time now.

Swinging at every voice in your head, beating yourself down over every failure, trying to knock out the shame that never seems to fall.

But here’s the truth, If it’s really You vs. You, there’s no real winner.

You’ve been trying to fix what only grace can heal.

You’ve been hustling for peace when Jesus already handed it to you.

You’ve been throwing punches in a match that ended at the cross.

So lay down your gloves.

You don’t have to prove you’re strong.

You don’t have to hide your weakness.

You don’t have to win the fight to be called worthy.

God’s not in the crowd watching you bleed.

He’s in your corner; with the towel, with the truth,

with the reminder that this fight is fixed.

The bell’s already rung.

The victory is already yours.

But you’ve got to stop swinging at your own reflection

and finally surrender to the One who already won.

Jesus.