Fight The Good Fight

Fight the Good Fight

Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have confessed so well before many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12

In Paul’s final instructions to Timothy, expressed in these verses, he impresses on his young disciple the need to hold fast, stay the course, fight the good fight. Paul knows that the road ahead of Timothy will not be easy. Wherever the gospel of Christ is preached, there will be opposition, at times persecution, and Paul had experienced more than his share of those.

But Paul knew the greatest battle is not with flesh and blood. It’s against the “evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world” (Ephesians 6:12). The battle is over what we believe—that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, died for our sins and conquered death through his resurrection. It is a “good fight” because those who persevere will win the prize of eternal life promised to those who confess Jesus as Lord.

Does the battle around you continue to rage no matter how hard you fight? Have your enemies, seen and unseen, gained the upper hand? Have you grown weary of doing well or lost sight of the prize? God alone is our refuge and our strength. We were never called to fight our battles alone. When we seek God in prayer and acknowledge our weakness and weariness, he will fight the battle for us. Someday, we will stand at the gates of heaven and gaze in wonder at the prize in front of us. As the battles behind us become a fading memory, we will declare, “Yes, indeed, it was a good fight!” —CHERI

Heavenly Father, help me not to grow weary in the battles I face but to continually ask you to fight the good fight on my behalf. Give me faithfulness and perseverance. Thank you for your promise of eternal life and victory.

Jesus invited us, not to a picnic, but to a pilgrimage; not to a frolic, but to a fight. He offered us, not an excursion, but an execution. Our Savior said that we would have to be ready to die to self, sin, and the world.

—BILLY GRAHAM, AMERICAN EVANGELIST