Fighting the Good Fight of Faith

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens” Ecclesiastes 3:1

The list of genealogies in the book of Luke traces the ancestors of Jesus back to Adam, counting some 75 or 76 generations. Approximately the same number of generations have passed from Jesus’s death through to today. But 150 or two hundred generations, or two thousand, are but a blink of an eye to the unknowable Eternity that is GOD.
Does what we do when we are alive matter, or make any real difference, given that our human sojourn is seemingly over in the blink of a cosmic eye? Are we brought into existence, only to spend our three score and ten “Chasing after the wind”, as Solomon so poetically put it? (Eccl 1:14)
It is not our purpose to fathom the divine, or to know the course our lives will take. We could be called at any moment, but that is God’s decision, not ours. So, how do we make our lives more fulfilled and purposeful?
In Paul’s letter to Timothy, we learn that the way to be dutiful and content is to follow the path set out by our Saviour, Jesus Christ; for He is the heavenly prize and just reward for our perseverance, at the end of our brief days.
We are encouraged to “fight the Good fight”. Fighting against sin, in order to stay faithful, is the best and only fight we ever need to undertake.
The fight we are encouraged in is our own internal battle, that each of us must keep on fighting every single day. We have to fight against fear. We have to fight against temptation. We have to fight against discouragement. We have to stand up and defend our faith, and defend the right to proclaim it, even against opposition and tyranny. Most of all, we fight the Good Fight to seek our place at our Saviour’s side.
Whatever is waiting for us at the end of our earthly life is going to last an Eternity, and eternity is a very, very long time.
When we “lay hold on life”, grasping it firmly, and striding out with courage to face whatever fights are thrust upon us, we are filled with the grace of God-given strength, giving our best efforts, in Christ’s name, in all we think and say and do.
Christ is the way. Christ is the prize. You are dear to him. And he is with you, every step of the way. Fight the good fight of faith, and Christ shall be your all in all, eternally.

AMEN