Post #100: Good Fight of Faith

Fight the good fight of faith.
Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
I Timothy 6:12

What is a fight of faith? It is the perseverance of the saint to be 'sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see', as Paul tells us in the Faith Chapter of Hebrews 11. It is the fight of post-salvation faith which, thus, only Christians can engage in. For some, we stumble at times because we fear that we may have believed in the 'wrong religion', because belief, repentance and confession sounds too good to be true, or rather, too easy to get to heaven. For others, we forget that it is God whom we should depend on for strength, help and comfort, like David.

What is a good fight of faith then? What is the yardstick of 'goodness' against which we can compare our own fights of faith to? Some people seem to do it better than others. Look at Jim Eliot, Peter the apostle, John Huss, Wang Ming-dao, Dawson and many other famous missionaries, apostles, martyrs and Christian workers. Their fights of faith have been celebrated and commemorated for decades or centuries, not to mention Peter, whose fight of faith have already been celebrated for over a thousand years!

Then there are some people who definitely fight their fights of faith better than others, people who are Samuels, Gideons, Johns, Rahabs, Lydias, Marys in our contemporary society. They glorify God and edify men, have a thirst for God's righteousness and Truth, are constantly growing in knowledge of the Word and in love, and are fervent stewards and servants for the Heavenly Kingdom. All these are done because they are sure of what they hope for, and are certain of what they do not see. They know they will be saved from the wrath of God's hands when Judgement comes; they know the injustices they suffered will be recompensed by the Judge. As that hymn The Old Rugged Cross goes:

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will sing to the old rugged cross
And exchange it someday for a crown.

These good faith-fighters know that because of Christ's blood, they escape the second death and are freely given a place in the Kingdom that is to come. They will come to God with hands full of the work done for Christ, and they will come with hearts of relief and joy, hoping that God would be very pleased with their stewardship.

What is the yardstick to measure if a fight of faith is good then? I believe the yardstick is always striving to learn and live God's Word and having fellowship with God. God makes it possible for all, whether we be of big or small faiths, to hold on steadfast to the Promise of salvation, thereby living lives that are fixed upon that place in the Lord's Kingdom. God gives us strength and faith to hold on to His Promise, and never imposes on us.

This reminds me of God's covenant with David in II Samuel 7. God had never demanded or even told the leaders of His people to rebuild His tarnished temple, yet David had this heart, this wish to restore God's temple to an even greater glory. And God was pleased, making a covenant with David, that his descendants will always be blessed (Lo, and behold! God chose David's genealogy for Christ!). David had faith in God - that He is the One and Only Living God, and He would fulfill the promise of Canaan made unto His people from old. How could it be that God saw David' fight of faith to be good?

David had personal experiences with God - he had fellowship with Him. He prayed even during the most dangerous and urgent times, for God's help and answer to save the lives of the 600 under him against their Gentile enemies. And we often neglect the power of prayer, as Wayne Mack said in Reaching the Ear of God. When we pray, we are in direct communion with our Father in Heaven - there's no more communion as direct as this. When we falter, we pray. When we are lifted up, we pray. When we are hurt and wounded, we pray. When we are joyful, we still pray. Remember the analogy of the fireplace in John Bunyan's The Pilgrim Progress? Satan, our enemy, fans hard at the fire at the fireplace, trying to extinguish it. But the fire never dies out, even though sometimes it may look as if it is, because just Satan is trying to kill the fire on one end, the Holy Spirit pumps oil into the fire at the other. The more often we come into direct communion with God (ie: through prayer), the more attuned our hearts, minds and lives are to Him. We can not only sustain our fires, but even grow stronger as we grow closer to God.

With the end of the age of prophecy, we have what God wants to tell us in His Word. David loved God's Word - the longest Psalm in the Bible is a re-dedication to love God's Word even more. He lived according to what he deemed God would be pleased with: He killed Goliath because he had blasphemed God's Name (I Samuel 17:26, 45); he did not kill Saul because he had great respect for the 'Lord's anointed' (I Samuel 24:6, 26:9, II Samuel 1:16); he treated Saul's son, Mephibosheth, as his own because he loved Jonathan so much (II Samuel 9:7). And how did he know that God would be pleased with what he did? Did he follow the counsel of men? No, he definitely did not. Because if he did, he would have gone home to his flocks instead of killing Goliath that blasphemer, neither would he have not killed Saul during the two times he really could. He knew God's statutes as stated in the Torah (what was then only available to him)- to put to death the blasphemous, to show mercy unto the pitiful, to obey the ruler because he has been anointed by God to rule in His Name. And look, we have the completed compilation of the Bible! We have multifarious books and commentaries on God's Word and our faith, all in a very comprehensive range (of course, discernment between the truly biblical and nominally biblical books is important). What are we doing with all this precious information that God has ordained His people to publish, to write for our edification? God's Word and biblical literature enlightens and trains us on the attitudes, the tactics, the work that we are to do to fight in this spiritual warfare against Satan and the world, to fight the good fight of faith.

Reflecting upon myself, I wonder how God and the angels in Heaven see my fight of faith on earth. Do I fight well? Do I fight well enough against the want for quick gratification and the harms of the world, instead of putting my treasures in the Heavenly Kingdom I know I have a place in? There are times when I stumble in this fight, sinning against my Lord, but how great and wonderful is He, even more wonderful because He comforts me especially with this verse.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way just as we are - yet was without sin.
Hebrews 4:15

And this is why when I stumble or lose courage in this fight of faith on earth, I can 'approach the throne of grace with confidence' (Hebrews 4:16) that my Heavenly Father will, on account of my weakness and repentance, turn His back on my sins and receive me in His arms once more.

Christ has redeemed us 'once for all' (Hebrews 7:27). Not fighting a good fight of faith does not equate to losing our salvation. This is the mysterious wonder of salvation, isn't it? That we are really, really justified by faith, not by works. Our Lord is merciful indeed. Our Lord will praise those who fight good fights of faith, 'Well done, good and faithful servant!'. But for those who have not been faithful stewards, they will face reproach, their world-centred works being singed to ash, with them being snatched from the testing fire. The latter come to our King empty-handed. How shameful would that be! To come to our Saviour, the Creator of Universe, the Judge of the world, the Almighty God, the Heavenly Father and the Giver of Grace...with nothing to see Him!

Father, please help me to be consistent in our fights of faith. Let me not diminish my first love for you when I was saved, but let me constantly grow in truth and love. In this way, I can hold true to the confession made before the Heavens, the Church and the unsaved that I have given myself over to You. When I fall, I mar Your Name. While I herald the ensign of the Heavenly Kingdom, I spit at and defy the commands and the loyalty the Christian soldier ought to have for You. I use Your Name in vain, while still priding myself, ironically, as a Christ-ian; I stumble the weak in faith; I dis-convince the unsaved of the saving power of Christ. So Father, please help me persevere in being a little Christ that glorifies You and edifies men, help me fight a good fight of faith!