Fight the Good Fight
Open Your Bible
1 Timothy 6:11-21, Psalm 25:12-15, 2 Peter 1:5-11, Jude 1:20-25
BY Bailey T. Hurley
Our societies have always had competing doctrines of faith, hungry idols, and wayward truths vying for our attention, money, and wholehearted worship. Our sinful appetites make it easy to doubt God and wonder, Can we fully trust who God says He is when our culture often celebrates the opposite ideas and values?
In 1 Timothy 6, Paul warns God’s people about human greed—he doesn’t want the family of God to get lost in the temptations of the world and forget they were not destined to remain a part of it. I very much relate to those who were hypnotized by all the world has to offer. I can easily succumb to wanting good things and believing I deserve them. It could be fancy food or the newest fashion or it could be as simple as clinging to the pleasures of this world and losing my hunger for God. The worst-case scenario is that I suddenly wake up and realize I traded in the true doctrine for the false ones advertised on my social media. What a scary thought! So, Paul calls God’s people to “fight the good fight of the faith” (1Timothy 6:12) and to trust in God’s rich provision over the insufficient riches of this world.
For those of us who confess Jesus as Lord, we must continually fight to keep Him in the position of Lord over our lives. I think of Paul who declared: “I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ—the righteousness from God based on faith” (Philippians 3:8–9).
Our weapon to fight the good fight is our faith. Trusting and believing that losing everything the world says we need is worth gaining Christ—trusting in His promises over the world’s empty ones. And just when we think we can’t possibly fight this fight, 2 Peter tells us that God will give us everything we require to be able to “escape the corruption that is in this world because of evil desire” (2Peter 1:4). I’m encouraged knowing God will help me supplement my faith with “goodness, goodness with knowledge, [and] knowledge with self-control…” (v.5) so that I stand a chance against those false teachings and tantalizing ideas that are hungry for my soul.
We stand together and we stand with God, and we fight a battle Jesus has already won. Unfortunately, we may not always walk away victorious from our sin on this side of heaven. Still, our lack of faithfulness never takes away what Jesus defeated in His death and resurrection. Today, let’s fight the good fight of the faith by humbly confessing our faults and failures and taking hold of life found only in Jesus Christ.
This devotional was updated on May 18, 2022 at 2:05 p.m.
52 thoughts on "Fight the Good Fight"
-
I’ve read these verses many times but today one thought jumped out at me in a very visual way. Fighting the good fight is such a specific metaphor and yet the verses don’t talk about aggressive actions. There’s no “swing your sword”, or “shoot your enemy”, or any kind of offensive moves described. I think that’s because God is the offense. We stand in agreement and unlike other battles, we don’t have to aggressively chase down the enemy.. because Jesus has already won the battle. We put on the armor to protect ourselves. We take a defensive stance. God has won for us already, but He knows that the enemy is still in power and will still try to take us down. Our “fight” is to put on our protection and trust God to do the dirty work. How much of faith is trust? Walking with God is a daily trust fall that requires sacrifice and letting go of our false sense of security. Even when just standing firm – He gives us everything we need. I’m so thankful I don’t have to chase down the enemy or draw blood in a spiritual battle bigger than I can comprehend. And praise God for giving us all the tools necessary to protect ourselves while He takes the enemy down. Thinking we can or should run into battle with our sword swinging isn’t what God intended. He doesn’t expect us to win every battle or get everything right, He only expects us to trust and have faith in Him.
-
Dear Mari, thank you for sharing your experience & the very real truth of the ongoing battle that we are ALL in. We are ALL going to mess up, and sometimes very publicly. I can so relate to your situation of being a Christian in a mostly non-Christian working environment. I was in a leadership role for several years in corporate. There were times, just as you, that I had good intentions but failed miserably. But God can redeem those situations and use them as a testimony to others. So don’t be discouraged or get down on yourself! God foreknew each & every failure of mine but still kept me in a position of influence where He could use me for His purposes & glory. And I’m guessing He’s doing the same with you! He is bigger than all our mistakes. Keep trusting Him!
-
Jessica – praying for your husband, that he would come to love God more than his career or his finances. That God would use his strong drive to succeed for kingdom building work. I pray God would prevent him from making any poor choices in relationships with coworkers. That God would give you wisdom in navigating this challenging time during your marriage and he would guard your heart from any further hurt.
Kimberly – praying for your father’s physical pain and also his mental state as this causes a huge life change for him. I’m praying for your family as well that they would know how to help your father as he begins to heal. Also praying against fear for all involved.
-
Focus on the glory of God, flee from sin and pursue virtue. Instruct them to do what is good, be rich in good works, be generous and willing to share. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of Faith!
-
Tina I like you have a story. Tanner was raised in a on again off again christian environment. I was pulled away through some abuse that happened. I was an immature believer and blamed God. But Tanner went to a christian school and learned much about God. He walked away a bit in his teen and early twenties. Pulled away by a girl he fell in love with. His choice, I’m not blaming her. Tanner could not tolerate the main medicine that could have kept him healthy enough to have the stem cell transplant. It truly was heartbreaking. Tanner was not meant to remain a part of this world. He turned back to God in his last days. Just think he probably has met Tina!!
I on the other hand need to resist thoughts that come to me in the night. Like I failed Tanner. I even thought that I had killed him. If I wouldn’t have made him wait on me donating my kidney. (he was noncompliant with meds, he was very young with his first transplant) He would have had 2 more good years. I feel selfish now with my decision. Would he have been healthier and been able to do the stem cell?? I need to stop because I know that I was not his savior. Jesus is!
I wrote down most of this devotional! I will give much thought to these words today.
-
Thank you for this devotional! I don’t think Timothy is the author of this letter, however, as credited twice in the second paragraph.
-
I messed up yesterday, somewhat. I am my worst enemy. I don’t like it when I mess up. I feel like I need to set the example since I am one of the few as Christians in my work area, so when I mess up or fail, I get SO down. Especially when I did not have bad intentions in the first place. And when I mess up people are quick to point that out and focus on that. And when you do good nobody notices and not that I’m looking for that. But there’s so much truth in people focusing on the bad stuff. I’m thankful for this devotion and reminding me then I’m going to mess up BUT it doesn’t change God‘s mind about me.
-
I have same issue
Post Comments (52)