Faith is a Fight

One thing that is certain is this... growing and maintaining faith in Christ will always be a battle. The Apostle Paul reminds us that we are to "fight the good fight of the faith" in order to "take hold of the eternal life" we have been called to (1 Timothy 6:12). What are we fighting against?

Many things...
1. The undercurrent of culture that wants to pull us away from Christ.
2. The darkness within ourselves that longs to go with the culture.
3. The devil and his minions who know all too well your sin patterns, where you are weak and prone to failure.
4. Other people who would rather you play nice with the world than follow a counter cultural revolutionary like Jesus.

I could keep going but you get the idea. The deck is stacked against us with regards to following Jesus in the world. So how do we win this battle? We win through grit and determination, through discipline empowered by the Holy Spirit. We win by having a relentless commitment to achieve everything Jesus said that we would be able to in him. We were never promised ease or worldly contentment. We were only promised that those who persevere to the end would be saved, rewarded with eternal life in the presence of Christ Jesus and a place at his table. We get to be his family, adopted through his blood as sons and daughters of the Most High God.

Christian, do you want this more than anything? Because my observations tell me that there are many in our churches who want a lot of other things more. Are you willing to be truly inconvenienced for the cause of Christ, for his church and his kingdom? This is a question every Christian needs to be asking and it's a very important one. Our answers will show us a lot about where our hearts truly are and what truly moves us.

What do you see in yourself? What's going well in your walk with Jesus right now? What is a struggle? What is God saying to you about all of this? May the Spirit lead you into all truth, just as Jesus said he would.