Fight The Good Fight | 1 Timothy

Fight the good fight of the faith. — 1 Timothy 6:12

I love this short text because fight is used both as a noun and a verb. The word means to exchange in a violent battle. And this statement by Paul infers something and clarifies something.

First, it infers that what Paul tells Timothy to do will be hard. It might be one of the hardest challenges in Timothy's life. And I believe spiritual leaders and mentors should tell their disciples that being a disciple is hard. In addition, they should push them to do hard things sometimes. We have soft spiritual men, husbands, fathers, and leaders because we invite them to do easy things. In my humble opinion, we have lowered the bar too far. I think we should do exactly the opposite. We should tell them more often to do something hard and learn to put up a spiritual fight. To fight for their marriage through infidelity rather than opting out. To fight for the right to embrace their spiritual beliefs at work rather than caving to shame and fear. To fight against the sin, they have had issues with for years and give it a beating rather than allowing it to beat them up.

But! And this is a big "but."

The second thing Paul does is clarify that it may be a hard-fought fight, but it's not against people. It's not a violent battle against people in a cage. Instead, it's a battle for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness in Timothy. And as he enters the ring with people who want to battle with him, he will have to first fight a hard-fought battle within himself. And that's where every good battle of faith is fought first, right within our hearts and desires.

This is the battle we need to be fighting. It's the fight right before the fight. It's the fight we fight right before we fight with our wives. Or the fight we fight right before we indulge in a selfish desire. That's the good fight. That's the hard fight. And that's the one we need to fight with more effort. So stop being a wuss, and get out there and fight cause that's the best fight we can ever fight.

ASK THIS: What fight are you fighting today? Is it a good one?

DO THIS: Stop being a wuss and fight it.

PRAY THIS: God, help me to see the first fight. The one right before the wrong fight.

PLAY THIS: Surrounded (Fight My Battles).

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