I have been thinking about the good fight as Paul put it Timothy. We just had a sermon on being soldiers of Christ and it occurred to me that I don't think about the daily fight, well daily! The apostle Paul describes to Timothy that it is a fight and a battle. How could I win the battle if I'm not focused on it daily? Overall I know I'm in a fight, but I lose sight of it sometimes because of distractions. It's hard to fight a battle that's life long, and I think that's one of the reasons some lose sight of it. We think of battles the way we are used to understanding them.

Some battles in life are fought and instantly won; passing tests, playing games, solving a puzzle in the newspaper, or winning at a sporting event. We preoccupy ourselves with these "battles" because they give us instantaneous gratification and bring us a measure of pleasure and self-assurance.

Some battles are fought for a while and won; graduating from high school or college, getting a promotion at work, achieving "retirement." We can see the need for fighting these kinds of battles because there is a significant achievement to be won at the end and once we have achieved that level, we can move on to other things, having won the battle.

There are other battles, however, that are ongoing and we will never, in this life, completely win until we conquer them in death. These battles are constant and daily efforts with which we must struggle on a regular basis. This is a hard thing for our society to accept who are accustomed to complex crimes being solved in a one hour TV program, sporting events ending in less than two hours, and conquering a challenging game in 30 minutes. This kind of battle is only won in the continued fighting of it; it isn't a battle that is won, never to be fought again.

We need to realize that living the Christian life is the same kind of battle. If we realize and accept this, I believe we will have a great weight lifted from our shoulders. The person who is constantly telling himself, "I've got to win today!" will soon find himself hopelessly burned out with trying to achieve this task. Why? Because living the Christian life is only something that is won while we continue the struggle. Paul told Timothy, "Fight the good fight of the faith?" (1 Timothy 6:12) and wage the good battle (1 Timothy 1: 18). It was a battle that Paul was only expecting Timothy to win by continuing to fight it.

Let us recognize that today we fight the battle and that our victory is in our faith on a daily basis (1 John 5:4) and through this, we will overcome, not in this life, but, in the next. For today, however, if I have struggled, then I have won.

Eric