Fighting the Good Fight
Near the end of his life, Paul summed up the way that he had lived by saying that he had fought the good fight (2 Tim. 4:7). He saw his life as a battleground. Every day was a fight to do what was right. Paul knew, as we should all know, that there is a devil and many demonic forces in association with him looking to destroy us and keep us from following Christ. “Be alert and vigilant because your enemy the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1 Pet. 5:8).
The devil was after Paul, but the devil was not going to stop him from fulfilling his mission. Rather than looking at the devil, Paul looked to Jesus. He kept his focus on Jesus and he endured tremendous suffering and adversity for the name and cause of Christ Jesus. Paul was no superhero. He was a regular man who depended on the same strength that is available to us.
The only “secret” that Paul knew was to focus on Jesus. By focusing on Christ, he was able to live his life for Jesus, to sustain his faithfulness over the course of his Christian walk. He did not look back or turn back to the world because he had truth and he had the power of Christ.
You can have the same thing. Fighting the good fight of faith means to continue to trust Jesus no matter how hard things get. We need to realize that life is not, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, a picnic or a walk in the park. We are in enemy territory, and living for Jesus is difficult. So difficult that we cannot do it ourselves. We must rely on the power of the living God. Everything that we need is already ours in Jesus. What we must do is stay connected to Christ by faith.
Your life is not going to be easy, but you can fight the good fight. Paul not only did it himself, but he told others to do it. “Fight the good fight of faith,” he told Timothy. And he would say the same thing to us. This is God’s cause. Fight. Fight for what is good, fight what is evil. Realize that you do not fight against other people, other humans made in the image of God (Ephesians 6:12) but against the spiritual forces of darkness in this evil world. And we fight for the cause of our Lord Jesus Christ by staying close to Him, and depending upon Him rather than upon ourselves. Faith is the victory that overcomes the world (1 John 5:4).
Dewayne Dunaway
