I have fought the good fight...

Have you ever wondered what it means to fight the good fight of faith? I have. What does it mean to say at the end of one's life, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race..." Looking at what the Scripture says it seems this involves at least three things...

A great deal of self control and discipline...

~ 1Corinthians 9:25-27 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.

To fight the good fight, to run the good race, is to lay every distraction aside. To live with a purpose, not as won who races just for fun, or when they feel like it, but as won who has set their sights on the Olympic medal. For indeed, we have something much greater than that to run for.

A letting go of our old desires, and a holding on to God's...

~Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

When the author of Hebrews talks of a runner, it brings the picture of an intense athlete. An athlete that lays aside every weight. Can you imagine trying to run while carrying a heavy object? Or trying to run a race with 100 lbs of excess weight? Failure is written all over that picture. What in my life am I holding on to? What have I refused to cut loose so I can run my best? Where have I trapped myself in the corruption of this world? It was in the context of this world's corruption and evil desires that Peter said,

~ 2 Peter 1:5-9 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

Because of the lusts of this world it is imperative that all diligence be given to add to our faith those attributes essential to spiritual sight. At the core of fighting the good fight, it seems to me, is a whole-hearted effort at growing in Jesus. Not just in actions and words, but in the center of our being: the mind.

And discipline and self-control in the battle field of our minds...
~ 1 Peter 1:13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

This kind of effort is a tremendous amount of work and discipline. An amount that I'm not up to. But with God, I am. I can do absolutely, totally, and completely nothing good for any length of time without Him...

~ 1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

...but God is faithful, and although it at times seems impossible for me to say 'no' to my sinful desires, I know that God will provide a way of escape. Yes, we can fight the good fight of faith, not with our hands or our will, but with God's enabling and our subjection to Him.

With disciplined mind, and diligent heart, Lord help me to fight the good fight of faith.