Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:13 (ESV)
Fight The Good Fight – The Fighting Series – Part 7
Go to PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5 | PART 6 | PART 7
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Tim 6:12 (ESV)
The book of Ephesians begins with a series of essays outlining our identity and value. From the very beginning, we have been loved. Yep, before we did anything, our identity was an embryo in the energy of the Divine waiting to be released into the world. Paul ended his letter (later called Ephesians) with a metaphor teaching us how to fight.
But if you don’t start with your identity, you’ll fight the wrong battles with the wrong weapons creating all kinds of wounds and rifts.
We were made of love, from love, for love. And when we know that (work in progress my friends… grace), when we begin to live by that identity code, it changes the way we ‘fight.'
Paul wrote to Timothy and said:
“A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.” (1 Tim 6:6-8 MSG).
He went on to say:
“Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” – (1 Tim 6:11-12 ESV).
If we don’t know who we are, individually and collectively, we end up pursuing the wrong battles. We wage war for significance, security, and control like we talked about a few days ago. It pits man against man in the never-ending pursuit of who is the strongest, richest, wisest, bestest… Who belongs and who doesn’t.
It sees us taking from others, shutting people down, closing doors, raising fists, and worse, all to sure up our end of life. It moves through families, into children, into schools, workplaces, streets, towns, cities, districts, states… the world, and back again. We spend too much time, money, and energy fighting each other – in and out of faith. We cast blame, we accuse, point fingers, aim guns… all the while fighting the wrong war.
A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God.
The good fight of faith. The battle for your own soul, the struggle for peace and hope and wisdom that is wrestled within. Don’t let yourself get distracted by who and what seems to be our enemy. When we know our true identity in Christ, we KNOW that it is mirrored in every other living soul. We are all connected. We are each one, made of dust and to dust we will return.
Our spirits originated in the heart and mind of God and with love and longing he birthed us into the world with the grand hope that we may WAKE UP and see him. See him for who he really is. And keep on discovering him until the day we move from this life to the next.
Don't pursue vindication. Don’t chase after significance, or fame or fortune, or hatred, greed, fear, lust…
Don't fight others. Don’t raise your arms against others. Strengthen them so that that they can hold others. And together we can fight the good fight of faith.
The fight to love, the fight to hope, the fight for peace.
And the battle starts by fighting the tendencies within our own hearts to take and blame and rage and win.
Let's spend our energy, not fighting to win, but fighting to stay woke to our true identity.
“This other war is the war not to conquer, but the war to become whole and at peace inside our skins.” – The Magnificent Defeat, Frederick Buechner. Harper Collins.
Written by Liz Milani
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