Growing up, I avoided fights at all costs, but later realized that fighting the good fight for freedom was one I couldn’t run from.
Many of my male friends loved to tussle and fight. Even if they were the best of friends, they might scrap. Not me. Since I was skinny and lacked a muscular build—and possessed a mild-mannered nature—fighting wasn’t on my to-do list. I didn’t care for a bloody nose, busted lip, or missing tooth. Nor did I want a pair of broken glasses. I couldn’t see without them. Mom and Dad had instructed me to care for them, and I didn’t want to walk around half-blind as I had before I got them.
I can only remember two times when I almost got into a fight. One involved my best friend. He pushed. I pushed back. He pushed back harder. I walked away. The other occurred when a high school peer accused me of doing something I hadn’t done. Luckily, a friend intervened.
Not getting into physical fights took effort. Bullies abounded. Guys who walked around looking for a fight. Boys who, if you looked at them wrong, wanted to punch you.
But Paul talks about another kind of fight, one that’s just as challenging: the fight of faith (1 Timothy 6:12).
Paul had to fight the fight of faith because many folks didn’t buy into what he preached: that God sent Jesus Christ as the Savior of the world and that they needed to trust in Him. He thought the fight worth fighting. And fight he did. Spiritually. Through shipwrecks, snake bites, misunderstandings, persecutions, lashings, and prison stays.
Not all who heard Paul believed, and their descendants have come down to our time. Some believe. Many still don’t. And some of those who don’t want to fight those of us who do. They attempt to squash our rights to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. They want to take away our freedom of speech (about religion). They want to remove all trimmings of religion from society. They want to jail us … to kill us.
But our fight is not with others. The fight lies between good and evil … God and Satan. And the struggle takes a lifetime. Good will win out in the end, but the very end. Not necessarily before our life ends.
The good news is that we’re not alone. Others fight with us. More importantly, God fights with us through the power of His Spirit. Some will die in the fight. Some will avoid the fight. Some will walk around injured from the fight. But fight we must. The cause is worth it. People need to know God loves them and wants to forgive their sins so they can live in heaven with Him in the future and enjoy the life He plans for them in the present.
Don’t give up in the fight for the faith. Keep fighting the good fight for freedom.
Martin Wiles lives in Greenwood, SC, and is the founder of the internationally recognized website, Love Lines from God. He is a freelance editor, English teacher, pastor, and author. He serves as Managing Editor for both Christian Devotions and Vinewords.net and is an instructor for the Christian PEN (professional editors’ network). Wiles is a multi-published author. His most recent book, Hurt, Hope and Healing: 52 Devotions That Will Lead to Spiritual Health, is available on Amazon. He and his wife are parents of two and grandparents of seven. He can be contacted at [email protected].