Fight yourSELF

Scripture Read: 1 Timothy 1:18-20  This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight, ¹⁹ keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith. ²⁰ Among these are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have handed over to Satan, so that they will be taught not to blaspheme.

Application: How do we fight the good fight? What does that mean and how do we do it? The fight we are to fight is nothing like the fighting that takes place in this world. Firstly, when there is a fight in this world the person who is fighting does so against a foe that he feels is a threat to him. He wants to live and believes that someone is trying to interfere with that. Our fight on the other hand is quite different. We fight a foe that we KNOW is out to dominate us, control us and in time destroy us. The most interesting difference is that our foe is not someone else – it is us, the old us. We don’t realize it but we are not trying to live, but to die. It is the old self that is fighting to live apart from what you intended for us. Let us surrender to You Lord, and allow the new man You have regenerated in us to live through us, keeping our body as a slave to righteousness. Our body desires to be the master, but it is a terrible master, yet a wonderful slave. Paul speaks a lot about the fight that rages within our flesh. He equates it to the entire focus of his existence, which we would call our “mission”. What does mission means?   

Defined: Mission - a specific task with which a person or a group is charged.

Paul wrote much on mission and how to approach it. His own personal mission was a driving force as we see by his last words to the elders at Ephesus as he prepared to go to Rome and die.

Acts 20:24 However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Paul as our example was driven to fight this fight. Motivated by his love for Timothy he encouraged him to do the same. As he closes the letter to Timothy he reminds him of his deep desire, to see the disciple he loves so much, finish well.

1 Tim. 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

In the last letter he ever wrote, he wrote again to Timothy, knowing he was soon to die at the hands of Nero, he uses the terminology of one in a victorious battle.

2 Tim. 4:7  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

What does it mean to fight the good fight of Faith? Believing – did we believe what Your word said Father? Knowing, what You commanded and promised Father, did we trust in it until the end? Denying what our flesh would cry for; doubt, fear, anxiety, whispering to us to “walk by sight”, did we hold our ground and trustingly believe, no matter the circumstances, in You?

Meditation Questions: Do you ever blame others for your sin? What does that show? What or who do you think is your greatest enemy? When you fight against sin, what do you believe you need? How do you control your flesh? How do you think you learn to trust the Lord? If you know that someone is out to hurt you, what should you do about that? How should this change how you view your flesh?