Growth

Fight the Good Fight

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With all the bumper stickers that clamor for peace, sometimes it’s easy to forget that we have turned fighting into a form of entertainment. Whether it’s boxing matches or UFC, Survivor or Family Feud, there are an abundance of broadcasted competitive challenges that pit one group against another. Even within these challenges some of the most talked about incidents aren’t what happens in the field of play, but are the personal disagreements that occur as the competition rages on.

Perhaps because fights have become entertainment, we forget that not all fights are created equal. We are encouraged to “stick up for ourselves,” and to “fight for what’s ours,” without remembering that not everything is worth fighting for. Children learn this at a young age as they watch their parents argue with the umpire at a Little League game, or as mom and dad disagree with a teacher’s grading policy. It seems like any slight, any inconvenience – whether it’s from a “stolen” parking lot space or a desired Christmas gift – is worth a fight.

The local church is not immune to such proclivities. Whether it’s a disagreement over how loud the band plays (or whether there should be a band at all), the way in which a pastor delivers their sermon, or even the manner in which the building is decorated, there is a tendency to think that every difference of opinion is worth a “discussion.”  We are inclined to think of the church as “ours” and so we fight for the way we think it should be.

Scripture, however, tells us to focus on a different kind of fight. I Timothy 6:12 contains the instructions to ” Fight the good fight” but rarely do we quote the rest of that passage. It states:

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

The preceding verse clarifies more when it states:

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.  

In other words, what we are to be fighting is the good fight. Not the “personal” one or the “easy” one, but the good one. And what characterizes the good fight? It isn’t preferences or personal desires. First, it’s the fight of faith – one that is centered on our relationship with God. Secondly, it keeps eternity in view – fighting not for what’s temporal but what will last. Additionally, it is characterized by a pursuit of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness. The good fight is the one that puts Christ on display to all the witnesses that have heard our confession of Christ. The good fight is one that honors God. 

In other words – we shouldn’t be fighting for the things that seem to matter in this life – we should be fighting for the things that will matter in eternity. And as we do so, the manner in which we fight should bring glory to our Lord.

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Growth

Prone to Forgetfulness

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I’m a pretty organized person. I like deadlines and schedules and clear, stated expectations. It surprises people, therefore, when I tell them I have a little bit of the absent-minded professor in me. I don’t tend to be forgetful about major things, but it’s not unusual to find me searching for my keys, or wondering where I put that piece of paper that was just in my hand. I get so focused on what’s in front of me that I forget about what I just did.

I wonder if something similar happened to the disciples as recounted in the book of Mark. You are probably familiar with the discussion between the followers of Christ about who among them was the greatest. As if this wasn’t a ludicrous enough discussion considering they had the Messiah in their midst, a few verses before this we read in Mark that Jesus was called in to cast out a demon that the disciples couldn’t. They go from inability to accomplish their task to an argument over who is the best. It would be as if baseball players who all had a .000 batting average started comparing performance. How quickly they forgot that the question of who was the greatest had already been answered – and it surely wasn’t any of them. 

Do we do something similar? Do we go from marveling at the fact that Christ would save a sinner like us, to demanding the privileges and responsibilities that we want? Are we astonished that the Creator of this world would have a relationship with us, yet vying for a position of authority in His Church? Are we overwhelmed by the forgiveness that we have received by a merciful and loving God, yet unwilling to forgive other fallen creatures that sin against us? Oh, how quickly we forget! We go from humbled and convicted to prideful and controlling, not recognizing the contrast between our dependence and our demands. 

Perhaps this is why Scripture often instructs us to “remember.” Perhaps if we thought more about what God has done in the past, about His graciousness, His might, and His generosity, we would be less likely to act contrary to His character – now and in the future.

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