SUNDAY NIGHT WITH EKURWE
25 September 2022
“But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (1 Timothy 6:11-12 NIV)
Not many things are gotten on the plater of gold in this side of eternity, some valuable things are gotten with much effort and sweat. There are few things you may do without a serious fight–moving from your bed to eat in the dining table in your house, going to school in the neighbourhood, going to a birthday party of a nephew in the next block few meters away from your home, but to be holy and live for Christ in the world without a fight is practically impossible. If you have been holy, living a godly life in this world without a serious fight, then the formula employed is not only strange, but debateable–I will wonder what kind of holiness.
Fight the good fight of faith. How? It involves a spiritual warfare of disengaging from the world and sin, it is not just an ordinary struggle, but a good fight. There may also be a foolish fight of faith, or a bad fight of faith–fighting about things of God without the presence of the Holy Spirit, when the motivations are flesh, recognition and reputation. Every strength for that kind of fight originates from self and the end of the fight is about self and self alone.
The fight of faith is good, because even after getting saved and on the narrow path, the fight will usher you to a greater benefits and fullness of the heavenly package. The taste of victory will elude you when you never experience the fight, the arm of God that protects is warm and soothing but it is only used on the soldiers at the battle front. The proficiency derived from the use of the armour and the experience is gotten by users and armies at the war front.
True Christianity is a fight, there are many who would call themselves Christians and are oblivious of spiritual struggle, conflict or self-denial.
They may be in church and rise to a leadership level but never fight about their profession, such profession will not produce holiness. That kind of profession or religion is not what Jesus Christ found and which the Apostles preached.
With whom does the Christians fight? Not with other Christians of course, the cause of sin is only helped when Christian waste their energy and strength in quarrelling with one another. A Christian fight is a constant battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. You must fight or be killed, no midway between.
Christian must fight the flesh, even after conversion, all believers still carry within them a nature prone to evil and emotional feelings which can lead them astray. You need a daily struggle and the daily earnest prayer as Paul wrote to the believers in Colossians 3:5, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.” (NIV). One could add to the list, drugs, quarrelling, gambling, excessive quest for material wealth.
Christians must fight the world, the subtle influence of the world and the draw back to ungodly love for sin. The pleasure of the world could be enticing and hard to resist, but it is worth giving up everything to win. A good fight of faith is about disliking the world and all her values.
Christians must fight the devil, we must not doubt the reality of the devil, he is alive, he never sleeps, he is the Christians unseen and worst enemy. We must not be ignorant of the devices and subtly wiles that aimed to attack our faith and trust in God and His word. Our fight is to resist the devil’s rule over our lives and his control over our will and direction. The fight is absolutely necessary, there is no such things as neutrality in this matter, we have no choice. To be at peace and not fight is to be opposed to God, we must either fight or be killed.
The fight is for every Christian whatever nationality, class, age or rank, the fight is ceaseless until the captain of our salvation decide to call to rest with Him. The Christian enemy takes no holiday, never weary, never sleeps, so conflict is a constant companion of those who wish to be holy. It is a sad thing when the so-called Christian knows nothing about the spiritual battle.
At the same time, Christian must take comfort from the knowledge that experiencing this inward spiritual fight is a good sign, for it can be the only evidence that we are on the right path to arrive at God approved holiness. Let us take comfort and be strengthened to fight the good fight of faith.
Watch out for part 2 and keep a date with us next Sunday.
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