LEARNING DAILY

 

1 Timothy 6:11-12, But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

I seem to go to the writings of the apostle Paul to Timothy often.  Paul called Timothy his “true son in the faith”; Paul had probably led Timothy to Christ.  Timothy had been Paul’s constant companion and had become a leader in God’s service. It is the encouragement Paul writes to Timothy that draws me to the writings.

 

In the verses above, Paul encourages Timothy, and all who are dedicated to God, “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness”.  As believers these are the qualities we should be striving for while on this earth.  Dr. Ed Newton, our pastor, said it this way, “We are just not saved from something, we are saved to something.”  In other words, we are not just saved from an eternity of torment in hell, we are saved to the righteousness we have through Jesus Christ – now and through eternity with Him.  So, we flee from the things of the world’s philosophy and “pursue, fight and lay hold of eternal life” as long as we live.  We cannot do both!

 

The word ”fight” in the Greek means to agonize over.  Here Paul is explaining the Christian life as an intense struggle that requires each of us to persevere as we continue to fight against every force that opposes our walk on the narrow way.  In Ephesians 6:12, Paul writes, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” Satan wages war against Christians continually; his war is organized with deceptions and clever plans to defeat us and getting us to step off the narrow way.   Never forget that other names for Satan are deceiver, murderer, liar, tempter and accuser of the brethren.  He uses demonic forces and people to challenge us in the ways that tempt us specifically.  He brings evil into our lives and is our real enemy.

 

We must fight the good fight of faith.  God calls us to stand firm and put on His spiritual armor every day.  We put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, protect our feet with the gospel of peace, pick up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, take up our sword, the Word of God and we stand!  David Jeremiah wrote, “Thankfully, our spiritual armor is to be used in a war that has already been won!”  We do not have to live our lives in fear of Satan.  He was defeated by Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.  You and I have professed our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, enter into the battle aware of its reality and “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness”!  We “lay hold of eternal life” knowing that the ultimate victory against Satan has already been achieved!