Crock-pot tomato sauce 🍅 The struggle is real...

1 Timothy 1: 18 - 19

¹⁸ This charge I entrust to you, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹ holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith,

Remember from our previous devotion - Paul has left Timothy in Ephesus to handle some problems with false teaching in the church there… The goal of Paul’s charge was love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.

Notice the military language being used in today’s scripture verses.

Now I want to make an important point…  which is, that in Paul’s second letter to Timothy,

Paul says of himself, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7). These are words of a man who is about to leave the battle of life.

But here in 1 Timothy, Paul is speaking to a young Christian man; (probably in his twenty’s) who is being left to do dangerous and demanding work in Ephesus.

The apostle is telling him to "fight the good fight."

The fundamental nature of Christianity is that it is a warfare in which we are all involved… and there is no exit until the end.

The moment we began our Christian life, by faith in Jesus Christ, we entered a lifelong battle.

And this struggle is not intended to be easy. Many Christians today forget that. There is a lot of misleading teaching today, insinuating, that when we become a Christian, God begins working for us, so everything will work out the way we want it to.

I see people posting appealing quotes on Facebook about how God is on our side. 

Think about that for a moment…

People are being taught that they are in the will of God because bridges appear mysteriously across the chasms of life. NO! 

If that is the sign of being in God's will, then Paul was out of God's will most of his life. He knew he was in a battle, and he tells Timothy that he is also going to be in a battle.

The object of this warfare is not to survive to the end of life, as many Christians think.

Everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike, are fighting the battle to keep healthy and stay alive.

That is not the Christian warfare. 

Paul is talking about being a Christian, about living a Christ-like life in the midst of dangerous pressures and opposing forces. That is the battle.

In other words, to be realistic in a world of deception… not to chase after all the desires that the world falls for… not to allow ourselves to think wrongly about what is going on in society, but to get God's point of view… to see things the way they are and to deal honestly, realistically, and openly with everything that comes… that is the battle.

That is the way Jesus dealt with life. He did not hide away in some monastery.

He was out in the center of life, in the marketplaces, He was among people, and under the pressures and dangers of everyday life.

He was a realist who dealt seriously and honestly with life.

You see, the battle Paul is talking about is to be a loving person who has concern and compassion for people even when we are harassed…

and even when others are expressing words of hate and violence and bigotry.

The battle is to live among those who have lost their way, in love, faith and compassion… and to live in such a way that they turn from that which is destroying. We are to be involved with people and give of ourselves in order to bring them into a relationship of truth.

The bottom line…

The warfare is to live [our life] your life and my life; for a purpose… not merely to spend it on ourselves.