“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. 8. Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing.”
When Paul wrote 2 timothy, he was coming to the end of his life. He knew that he would shortly be martyred for his faith in Jesus. He was not afraid as he faced the possibility of his own death. He had written to the Philippians that “to die is gain.” Paul knew that when he left this earth he would go to a better place and he would be with the Lord. What we have in these two verses is not Paul’s regret about his ensuing death, but an estimate of his life. He described his life as a “good fight.” It was not a fight using men’s weapons, rather it was a fight for what is right, for the Lord and for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul fought to help people find true liberty in Christ. He fought the devil. He warned in Ephesians 4:12 from his own experience what this fight would entail for us: “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” The weapons that Paul used in this “good fight” were prayer and the word of God. We cannot take on the fight against the “principalities and powers” in our own strength for we need Jesus to fend for us. Paul wrote that he had “kept the faith.” Paul’s fight had been a good fight because he had faced it with faith in Jesus Christ. He had kept it in faith in the work of the Holy Spirit in his life, in the power of the gospel and in the final victory of Christ’s kingdom. He had kept It in the faith in the rightness of his cause to take the gospel to Gentiles primarily, but also to Jews. We need to ask ourselves if this is our cause as well. Paul meant that he had remained true to the faith to the end. Many times Paul was threatened, and on at least one occasion was left for dead, but he did not quit. He could have easily said, “I didn’t sign up for this mess. I’m going back to my old life.” Romans, Jews and Greeks argued against what Paul believed, but he did not quit. Because of his great faith, Paul could not quit. This same faith is available to us. Before you give up on living for Jesus in this present time, reevaluate your faith. Is your faith genuine? Before you give up on your church, ask yourself if your faith is genuine or have you just been playing church? These are important questions as we review our own lives. Keeping the faith does not mean that we have to hold onto it. It means that we should remain true to it, no matter what happens and no matter what people are saying. Just as it was in Paul’s day, there is great hostility towards our faith today. If we are greatly concerned about what people are saying about our faith, we will not remain true to it. It means that we will remain true to it no matter what is happening in our lives at any given time. There is a gospel song that says, “The God on the mountain is still God in the valley.” This is forever true and we need to remember it. This was the kind of faith that Paul had and it is the kind of faith that we need to live for Jesus in our generation. When we feel like quitting church, or giving up during hard times, we need to remember all that Paul endured for his faith and in the end could write: “I have kept the faith.” At the end of his life Paul could write: “I have finished my course.” He had done well with the work that the Lord had assigned him on the Damascus Road. His life was finished through hardships, trials, temptations and struggles. But it was finished through great victories for Christ and he could write: “There is henceforth laid up for me a crown of righteousness…” Let it be so for us. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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