A Fixed Fight!

Many of us as Christians have gotten so comfortable with the good life that we have forgotten that Paul admonished us to enlist in a fight. Now while that does not mean to have a spirit ready to fight everything and everyone, it does imply that there will be a fight:

¹¹ But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things; aim at and pursue righteousness [true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God], godliness [the fear of God], faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight of the faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confession [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:11-12 (AMP)

With this verse Paul begins by telling the young Timothy what things he should aim for – righteousness, godliness, faith, love, being steadfast and gentleness. He doesn’t stop there, going on to talk about the fight that every believer must engage in. He tells Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith”, and after that to “take-hold of the eternal life to which we’re called”. Even though the “fight” is for the “fight of faith”, that’s only one fightd. For if we are going to “take-hold of eternal life” – that fight continues. You might already be asking, “but I thought eternal life is promised to those who confess Christ”. Yes, that’s a part of the benefit package that we have. The only thing is, there is a real devil who is out to “rob, to kill and to destroy” – who wants to take parts of that benefit package away by constantly telling us that God really didn’t mean this or that. He places doubt within us, so we will begin to doubt God and ultimately to deny Him.

The enemy is subtle in his strategy, but he is persistent. He won’t give up and we’re constantly beset with his taunting accusations against God, and too often he is successful in showing us that God was in some way unfair. Daily something happens in the world that seems so unfair, and something for which we feel God could have stepped in and changed the outcome of that scenario. If we pile up enough unfair scenarios it isn’t long before we no longer have faith, and Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

The good news in this is, if we let Him, God will get in the fight with us. If we read His word, it will speak to us of His love and faithfulness and refute the lies of the enemy. And if we let Him in live in our hearts, we have the greater One on the inside and that greater One knows how to destroy all the works of the enemy.

Yes, the fight for our faith is conditional, but look at the conditions in the paragraph above, read them, meditate on them, recognize – it’s a fixed fight – God is greater than all!

Maria