“Fight the good fight of faith.” (I Timothy 6:12)

No one typically goes looking for a fight. Yet I am certain that each of us at one time or another has found ourselves in a fight. Perhaps it was a fight of wills or maybe a fight to prove ourselves right. Power struggles often dissolve into fights. Family members fight, nations fight, cultures fight, and good and evil fight every minute of every day.

If you were raised as I was, you were taught that fighting is wrong. In fact, the Bible tells us that we are to be gentle with one another; not to let the sun go down on our anger. Further, we are told that God’s leaders must not be contentious or quarrelsome. So what does Paul mean when he tells Timothy to “fight the good fight of faith”?

There are at least two things to keep in mind if we want to take Paul’s instructions to heart. First, we must understand that Satan’s chief target will always be our faith. He may use various tactics, yet it will always be our faith that will be at the center of his attacks. Why? Well, listen to a sampling of the things that are linked to faith: we have forgiveness and sanctification through faith (Acts 26:18); we are justified by faith (Romans 5:1); we walk by faith (II Corinthians 5:7); our blessings come by faith (Galatians 3:9); the Holy Spirit is ours by faith (Galatians 3:14); we are sons of God by faith (Galatians 3:26); we have access to God by faith (Ephesians 3:12); and we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Do you get the picture? Everything we have from God is ours by faith. In fact, Habakkuk said, “The righteous shall live by his faith” and the writer of Hebrews said that without faith “it is impossible to please God.” Satan hates our faith.

But there is another reason why Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, and that is because it is truly a fight. You see, when the bottom falls out of our lives through sickness, family strife, financial threat, loneliness, persecution, overwhelming fear, rejection, or any number of other things, the easiest thing to do is waver in faith. We have all experienced this, have we not? Yet what God longs to hear, what brings him the greatest glory, is when we can tell him in the midst of Satan’s attack that we trust him, showing that our faith is steady.

Some of us are in the fight of our lives right now. Am I right? Paul said it would be a fight. Yet God longs to hear us tell him that we trust him. Can you do it? We are never in a stronger position that when we tell God that we trust him. Yes, it is a fight. Yes, it takes faith. And yes, God is pleased when we exercise faith in him because he is our exceeding joy. Let’s fight the fight of faith together!!