Fight Fight Fight

I was channel surfing last week zipping past college sporting events because I'm just not interested in them. If and when I happen to watch any sporting event, it's usually football. The large crowds that attend events never cease to amaze me. I often think to myself, "Why can't people gather, get excited, and cheer over Jesus like that?" It blows my mind that great numbers of people will flock into stadiums to see their favorite team, but few of those same people would ever think about attending an event where the gospel is being preached. When I was in high school I was a faithful football fan and never missed attending a Friday night game. I can still remember yelling from the stands, "FIGHT FIGHT, red blue and white ...go Stags!"  Did you know that in the Bible there is a fight call for Christians? There is. If you are a Christian, you have actually entered into a spiritual sporting event by reason of your faith.  Paul referred to it as a race and said, "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" (1 Corinthians 9:24). Paul cheers Timothy with this fight call, "Fight the good fight of faith" (1 Timothy 6:12). What exactly is the good fight of faith and how do you fight it?  

Something to be considered in this race is a belief God - to believe in His character, to believe in His promises, to believe that He is in control, to believe that He will bring about the final culmination of all things.  Unfortunately, some Christians have more faith in believing their home team will win a baseball game than believing God will bring victory over their battles. The book of Hebrews lists several characters from the Old Testament who fought the good fight, they fought to believe and succeeded in that fight: Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Moses to name a few, but consider Hebrews 11:29: By FAITH the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. When reading, I noticed that though the book of Hebrews account says "by faith" the people crossed the Red Sea, the Exodus account seems a little different. Not that they are contradictory, but that one account describes the people as 'faithful', yet the other account says that the people complained when they saw Pharaoh's army pursuing them. Look at this...

The Israelites snapped at Moses, "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?  What have you done to us bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not what we said to you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness" (Exodus 14: 11-12). AFTER God brings the Israelites through the Red Sea as by dry land and drowns the pursuing army, it was THEN they believed: "Israel saw the great power of the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses (Exodus 14:31). BUT! ..only a few days later they began to grumble against Moses again (in reality against God) when there was no water (Exodus 15: 23-24); and shortly thereafter they complained even more. This time they were angry about the lack of food and wished once again they had never left Egypt to follow Moses: "Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meal pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger" (Exodus 16:3). The book of Hebrews assures us the Israelites have faith, yet Exodus shows us plainly that their faith is fickle and small. God is almighty. He protected them from the Egyptian army. He divided the sea so that they could walk between walls of water as though on dry ground. Yet notice, their faith was up and down like a yo-yo. 

Their example should make you question, "What about me? Does my faith, like theirs, ebb and flow? Do I trust God one day and then act as if He has no regard for me the next?"Could it be you are full of fear and uncertainties when dangers lie ahead? Just remember Hebrews 11:29.  God's fulfillment of His promises depends on HIM, not you!  Remind yourself of Who He is, what He has done, what He is capable of, and what He has promised. Listen to other believers, Christians in your own church, your circle of born-again friends who are there to stand alongside you in this fight of faith. Reflect on God's Word because in it He tells you exactly what His promises are to all those running the race and who will finish without quitting. So be strong and not fickle. Fight the good fight of faith, the fight to believe yes, but don't focus on your faith. Focus on the God who is the object of your faith!  Then you can endure to the end by HIS power to receive the crown set aside for you. You only get a crown if you finish.  No crown or prize is ever rewarded to the one that quits. 1 Timothy 6:12 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life" ... because those that sustain will obtain.  

Until He Comes,

-Pat-