This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. (1 Timothy 1:18-19, NASB)
Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12, NASB)
Sometimes the battle comes on suddenly as if to catch you off guard, and sometimes you can feel it creeping up on you.One day on the golf course, my friend Lloyd and I were talking not about golf swings but about mood swings. The subject came up because I experience them every once in a while as a side-effect of some medical therapy I’m receiving, and the once in a while had just happened. Fortunately, I could feel it coming on, so no clubs were broken or thrown. I can’t say that the bunker I was in didn’t suffer any damage, but I cleaned up the mess before I walked to the next tee.
After I explained what was going on to the group (they graciously said I didn’t need a note from my doctor to thrash a bunker), Lloyd and I continued the conversation. He told me that his wife had experienced mood swings, and that when one popped up she would say to him, with genuine determination, “I’m fighting it. I’m fighting it.” At which time, being a wise man, he would turn around and leave the room.
Battling temptation, battling unhearing ears, and even battling our own selves is very much like battling a mood swing. Sometimes it comes on suddenly as if to catch you off guard, and sometimes you can feel it creeping up on you. But when some force arises from within or without that is an attack on your faith, you have to be ready to fight.
“Fight the good fight of faith,” Paul told Timothy. He didn’t just tell him once, he told him twice in one letter (see today’s scriptures). Paul knew that the battle was coming to Timothy, and he wanted Timothy to be ready and willing to fight.
In fact, the battle comes to us all. It had come to Paul, and sometimes he failed (see Romans 7). Is it any wonder that Paul spoke of training his body like an athlete, not for an earthly prize but for a heavenly prize, and that he encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight?
According to 18th century Bible scholar John Gill,
this may be called a “good fight,” because it is in a good cause, the cause of God and truth; and under a good Captain, Jesus Christ the Captain of our salvation; for which good weapons are provided, even the whole armour of God….
Neither Timothy in his time nor you and I in our time ever have to fight alone, but all of us must always be prepared for the battle. Because just like those goofy mood swings, the battle is coming.
—
Lewis Greer
February 10, 2016
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