Tuesday, May 1, 2018

1 Timothy 6:11-12 -- On the Good Fight

"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses."
1 Timothy 6:11-12


It's interesting that it talks about fleeing and fighting here.  The fleeing is talking about things in previous verses like temptations, lust, coveting, and disputing.  And I think that is what the fight is here.  It is an internal war between the natural man (Mosiah 3:19) and the saint, or in other words the part of us that wants to be good and the part of us that wants other things that aren't compatible with the gospel.  We can learn to bridle our passions and integrate both parts of ourselves, but it's not easy--which I suppose is why they call it a fight.

Fighting the good fight of faith is not just standing up for the good things that we want, but it is consciously including God in everything we do.  No matter how strong we are or how much willpower we have, there are things that we will face that will stun us, and test the very core of our being--things that play on our weaknesses.  Satan doesn't fight fair, and we shouldn't expect it.  We are definitely going to need God's help in this effort.

Today, let's work on learning the things that it talks about here: righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness.  All of these things are complex and hard to master, but they are the ammunition that we have to win the battle for the Lord's side.  Let's pray and read our scriptures, and do the things that it takes to keep the spirit with us.  Let's learn from God and become better people with him then we could ever have been by ourselves.

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