Fighting the Good Fight

2 Timothy 4:7

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

Instructions preceding this statement:
2 Timothy 4:1-5

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Matthew 5:43-45

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.

Luke 6:20-26

Looking at his disciples, he said:
"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.

"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
"But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

Luke 6:27-35

"But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

Who are our enemies?
Matthew 10:35-38

For I have come to turn

" 'a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her motherinlaw—
a man's enemies will be the members of his own household.'

"Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

I was reading something and I remembered that a signifigant while back, someone online argued with me about who our 'enemies' are. I was telling them that we are supposed to love our enemies and the person told me that the person they were arguing with wasn't their enemy. I think our enemy is anyone who we believe is blinded in some way to the faith. Truly not the person, granted, but the one blinding them. However, since it manifests through the person, that is who the 'enemy' verses are referring to, I think.

To be as blunt as possible, I think we are supposed to be harder on those who believe the same as we do (our friends) and more careful in our ministry to those who do NOT believe as we do. I think of Jesus telling Peter "Get behind me Satan" when Peter rebuked him and I think of the statements regarding 'pearls before swine' and I can't help but put 'of wisdom' after the word pearls in my mind. Those who are blind, will not be able to see until the Lord forces the scales to fall from their eyes...and some will choose blindness. That is their unfortunate choice and a choice that God gave them.

But those who believe as we do, we should be quick to lovingly rebuke. They should already recognize and have experienced our love, and so rebuke, though especially painful from those we love and respect, would be more willingly received. The closer the person is to being a 'milk' Christian, the more grace and instruction that person might need...and those who are more 'meat'...who offer a poor reflection even though they know better...they are the ones who need a bit harsher rebuke.

I find all too often we give more grace to those who should know better and offer no grace to those who DON'T know better. That seems backwards to me.

That is not to say that those who are outside of faith should not get some kind of correction for ACTIONS (so no one thinks I am saying we should let non-believers get away with murder). I simply believe that their BELIEFS, the matters of SPIRIT...not the matters of flesh...should receive more grace from us, because we already know their situation at this point, there is no point in 'rubbing it in' or doing something that makes the situation worse.

So...fighting the GOOD fight... requires putting on the armor of God:

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.

A belt is to carry tools. So God's Truth is the tool we use. A breastplate protects the heart and is used to protect us in time of battle, so our righteous behavior is protection. Shoes are for walking...so we should be walking in peace. With our shield, we defend face to face battle...so our faith protects us as well. The helmet covers our head...the place where our knowledge is stored and our salvation protects us in knowing that even in death, we live. Finally, the sword is our weapon...the Sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, if we pray in the Spirit (use our sword) ON ALL OCCASSIONS and with ALL KINDS of PRAYERS and requests, keeping in mind that God knows what is best for each of us and all of us as a whole and that he has even numbered the hairs upon our heads, if we are praying for God's will, then how could we doubt that it is God's will that all be saved? If we are praying for the salvation of those who we want to be saved, then we must have confidence that God will do it, but he might not do it through you or me, he might accomplish it through someone else. Does it matter so much WHO he accomplishes it through?

You can't fight God's battles in a physical way...you can only fight flesh in a physical way. Spiritual battles are best accomplished through the Lord, through love, gentle rebuke, prayer and supplication. This is what I believe fighting the good fight requires of us.

God bless you all.