Good Fights

 I can’t say I’ve been in many scrapes. Even in my youth, I was not known as a scrapper. Usually, save for a handful of times in Junior High, I was able to talk myself out of a situation before it came to blows. Some people like to fight. It’s in their blood, and they have no qualms about throwing fists. Although they might not have a problem with the idea of having their jaw wired shut, I’ve always had better things to do, so I avoided getting into fights for the most part.

While most fights are unnecessary, some are unavoidable. While you can walk away from most conflicts, some necessitate that you stand your ground and take on your adversary lest you have a permanent enemy that will track you down and hound you for the rest of your life. Some people have nothing better to do than pick fights. Perhaps they haven’t yet figured out that getting punched in the face hurts, but especially with the younger generation, they are far too quick to resort to violence.

That said, some fights need fighting, and the Bible tells us we must not shy away from doing so. When Jude insists that we must contend earnestly for the faith, another word for it is to fight. I understand that passive Christianity is all the rage nowadays. Whatever excuses we come up with for sitting on the sidelines and allowing the enemy to do as he wills, however, will not suffice when we stand before the Almighty.

If you’re unwilling to contend for the faith, then there’s nothing you’re willing to contend for. This is why the notion of finding a hill the contemporary church is willing to die on is a false dichotomy, an empty hope, because there have been hills upon hills we should have been willing to die on but didn’t.

We keep telling each other that one day we’ll get our act together. We keep assuring each other that we’re just warming up for a good fight, but in reality, we’re mentally running through the Rolodex of excuses to see which one we will use in this particular instance. It’s not the right time. It’s not the right place. It’s not the right issue. It’s not the right temperature. It’s too muggy. It’s too cold. I’m constipated. I’m not feeling up to it today, maybe tomorrow or the day after. I can’t risk my reputation. I can’t risk my job. I can’t risk my position, and on and on we go, doing naught else but sitting on our hands while the ravenous beasts of darkness and despair glut themselves on the innocent.

1 Timothy 6:12, “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

This is not a case of those that can’t do, teach. This is a spiritual father writing to his spiritual son, encouraging him to pursue righteousness, fight for the faith, and do his utmost to be a faithful servant because he had done likewise and had seen the fruitfulness of a life faithfully lived.

He had tread upon the ground that Timothy was going to tread; he had traversed the peaks and the valleys, had

 seen the glorious power of God, and felt the pain of betrayal and rejection. He had known privation, pain, lack, and loss and still encouraged Timothy to fight the good fight of faith because, in the end, it would all be worth it.  

2 Timothy 4:7-8, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved his appearing.”

While Timothy’s race was just beginning, Paul’s race was ending. Through it all, he kept the faith and fought the good fight, so he could encourage Timothy to do the same without duplicity or hypocrisy.

Our contending for the faith cannot be situational. We can’t be bold only when we have numerical superiority on our side or when we are confident that the person we’re debating is our intellectual inferior. We fight the good fight and contend for the faith, whether it’s popular or unpopular, whether a thousand are standing beside us or none bothered to show up.

It is a matter of individual merit. Paul didn’t write to Timothy telling him he needn’t bother fighting the good fight because Paul already had. He wrote to him insisting that Timothy must fight just as Paul had because you won’t receive a crown of righteousness based on someone else’s accomplishments. That would be akin to me going to the gym on your behalf and you expecting to get in shape based on my exertion. That’s not the way it works.

And herein lies the danger of trying to pass the buck. If you’re unwilling to contend for the faith, who’s to say the other guy will? We’re always counting on someone else to do the things we fail to do, not realizing that it’s very likely someone is counting on you for the things they failed to do. This is why there are no spectators when it comes to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. This is why we can’t have the option of a cheering section or a fan gallery.

Everyone must fight the good fight so that at the end of their journey, they won’t have to wonder whether or not a crown of righteousness is waiting for them but declare it with certainty and conviction. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr