BBD 06.27.14 The Good Fight (New)
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The Burning
Bush Devotional
06.27.14
The
Good Fight
But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness,
godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith,
lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the
good confession in the presence of many witnesses. - 1 Timothy 6:11-12 NKJV.
For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time
of my departure is at hand. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the
race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that
Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. - 2
Timothy 4:6-8 NKJV.
A Utah
man attacked another man, who was a visitor, at a church service over the seat
where he usually sat. Reportedly the man who was attacked was trying to save
three rows of seats which included the seat where Wayne Dodge usually sat.
Dodge and the visitor had a few words later in the parking lot where Dodge
punched the other man in the face. Also, as Dodge was driving away, he tried to
hit the other man with his vehicle. (Salt Lake Tribune 07.03.13; KPRC-TV
07.03.13; and various other venues)
The
fight over church seats occurred in a Mormon church, but they have occurred in
other churches for many reasons. Another church fight occurred in the choir of a
Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. Two families had a brawl right
in the choir loft. Reportedly the Wednesday before there had been a verbal
confrontation when someone told someone to “stop sleeping with somebody.” (WMC-TV
12.07.11)
A new phenomenon is “fight
church” with churches sponsoring brutal MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) matches.
As one person asked, “Can you love your neighbor and
knee him in the face?” It just
doesn’t seem like the right thing for believers to do…. MMA church fights may
have the right goal in that they want to win people to Christ, but they are not
going about it in the right way. It appears, at least to me, that they are
leaving out the “gentleness” which the Holy Spirit through the apostle
Paul instructs Timothy to have.
The apostle Paul moved by the Holy Spirit instructs Timothy to “Fight the good fight of faith,” and “to wage the good warfare (1 Timothy 1:18).” Paul in 2 Timothy also says that he
has “fought the good fight.” Now this is the kind of church fight that believers need
to be involved in.
Living the Christian life according to the apostle Paul is a
fight, it is a war. Ephesians
6:10-18 describes
the weapons available for the battle. In 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 we are
given more information about these weapons and what they can do, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal
but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and
every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing
every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” Our weapons are not of this world, and we do not fight as
the world fights, when we fight the “good fight of
faith.”
Instead
of fighting over who sits where in a church, or over some gossip that someone
has told, we should be busy wielding the supernatural weapons we have been
given. Prayers are far more powerful than a fist. The shield of faith has given
us the ability to overcome the fiery darts thrown by the enemy. Faith results
in courage, instead of the fear the enemy wants us to have. Instead of our
fists we fight the “good fight” with “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience,
gentleness.” These are the most powerful weapons of all!
Copyright © 2014. Ed Wrather. The
Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On June 8, 1998
the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent. Ed Wrather
began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of these first
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