Learning to Fight the Good Fight

Most of our fights are not physical.

By Rick Shallenberger, Editor

Several years ago, two friends and I were walking home from a restaurant talking and laughing as we crossed the street. We barely noticed the young men heading in the opposite direction.

We rounded a corner and suddenly my friend James let out a loud “Oof…” and fell to the ground. At the same time, I noticed a large rock rolling on the sidewalk. I whirled around and there were five guys yelling at us in Spanish. One had thrown the rock, which hit James right in the kidney area, and he was hurting. So, I had one friend on the ground, and I quickly pushed the other friend behind me as I faced the guys — trying to figure out what was going on. They were yelling and waving their arms, and one had a big stick that he swung at me and hit my stomach. I yelled at them to stop and asked what the problem was.

One spoke enough English to say we “Americanos” were mocking them. Evidently, when we walked across the street laughing, they assumed we were laughing at them. Then one of the boys jumped forward and slapped me across the face.

At this moment, I wanted to wade into them swinging. I’m a big guy and I knew I could take at least two and maybe three of them, but what about my buddy, who was small in stature, and what about my friend on the ground. Would they hurt him more?

Add to this, we had just come from church — and it didn’t seem right to get into a fight right after church. Yet I also knew Paul said to fight the good fight. Crazy thoughts, I know. All these thoughts and more went through my head in a matter of milliseconds.

I identified the leader — the one holding the stick — made myself as big and tall as I could, looked him right in the eye, and said in an authoritative tone, “Put the stick down and walk away.” I pointed in the direction they should go and kept staring at him. Surprisingly, he put the stick down, gestured to his friends, and they all walked away.

I had never wanted to fight more than I wanted to fight that day. I wanted to save face, I wanted to stand up for my friends and myself. But reason prevailed — or I would say, the Holy Spirit gave me the wisdom to make the decision I made. Though admittedly, it was an internal battle.

And I believe that’s more in tune with what Paul was telling his young protégé, Timothy, when he told him to fight the good fight of faith.

When we decided to follow Jesus, we began a journey of faith. We committed to becoming a disciple of Jesus, one who follows his commands, and trusts in him.

When Paul instructed Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, he was telling Timothy that there are times that the journey of faith will be difficult. The journey will sometimes be messy, hard, and harrowing. Paul’s words serve as a reminder that sometimes faith looks like a fight. You will be tempted to jump in swinging, but you have to listen to the Spirit and make choices.

Because this fight Paul is talking about is not about fighting against people; our journey of faith is a fight for goodness, beauty, and faithfulness. Yes, we are fighting against our own broken natures, and against God’s enemies within the spiritual realm. But we are fighting for righteousness, goodness, peace.

Fighting often looks like making the right decision, even if it’s not the easiest decision. It might mean being gentle when we want to be harsh. It might mean choosing love when it would be easier to be selfish. It is choosing good for the sake of the other. The battle is often against our own nature and impulse as we surrender to the nature of the Holy Spirit and put on the mind of Christ.

Fighting well means remaining faithful to Jesus to the very end — regardless of what is thrown up against us.

So how do we remain faithful? Here are two simple suggestions:

• Read God’s Word every day and ask him to reveal things to us. When we regularly spend time with him, we begin to love what God loves and hate what he hates.
• Have friendships with people who can encourage you, who pray for you, who love you. Having two or three people in life who can help keep you accountable is a necessary part of our faith journey.

I’ll never know what caused that young man to drop his stick and the others to walk away. I don’t know if suddenly they saw more than three guys. I don’t know if my size and demeaner scared him and he realized he was going to get hurt. I don’t know if he suddenly realized we hadn’t been mocking them. I’ll never know, but I’m thankful I listened to the Holy Spirit.

God helps us fight well — which usually means not fighting physically — even when someone comes at you with a stick. Fighting the good faith means keeping our eyes on Jesus.

Whenever you need to fight well, remember that you do not fight alone. God is with you—and when you draw near to him, he will empower you with the strength you need to finish your faith journey.

As Paul told Timothy, we too are to: “Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”