July 18

The Strategy of Fighting the Good Fight

 
Some of the final written words by the Apostle Paul just before he was executed were, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith..." (2 Timothy 4:7) He was not talking about slinging fists and swords against some human opponent. Paul was speaking figuratively about the spiritual battle that he encountered each day that he lived. It is the same one that we fight daily: the struggle against temptation and sin; the struggle against self over others; the struggle between pride and humility; the struggle against bitterness over true forgiveness; and so many other combat zones that we find ourselves on every day that we live. Life is lived on the battlefield. We war against a real enemy that is supernaturally powerful and capable of inflicting temporal, as well as eternal, death on a bloody and uncompromising battleground. Such is the life that we actually live day by day as royal children of the Most High.

"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ..." (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) There is a sobering fact that every Christian must sooner or later face – none of us will leave this battlefield alive. One day we shall venture forth on the field and will not come back home. It is inevitable. We shall all fall on this field of battle – each one of us. The only question that matters is this: how shall we die? Will we die a glorious death, sacrificing our lives for many? Will we stand before the Captain of the Lord's Army in the end, heroes of the faith?

Sadly, so many soldiers of the Cross of Jesus live their entire lives and never even see the battlefield for what it is – a life and death struggle with eternal consequences for many. The Apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, "Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier in active service entangles himself in the affairs of everyday life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier." (2 Timothy 2:3-5) On this eventide, let us kneel before the Captain of the Lord's Army and plead for forgiveness for not facing up to the true nature of our lives – as soldiers on a bloody and unforgiving field of struggle and sacrifice. Then let us ask for our next assignment when the sun rises tomorrow. Let us petition for the strength, courage, and wisdom to fight the good fight for the honor and glory of our Great King as we love our human enemies and strike at the heart of the spiritual forces of darkness arrayed against us!