The Agony and the Ecstasy

Fight the good fight  1 Timothy 6:12

Fight – Paul introduces the first century spiritual Olympics,  the agon of competition (the Greek means, “strife, contest and struggle”).  Paul chooses a word that every Greek reader would instantly recognize – the Games.  Athlete against athlete, fighting it out in the hope of victory.  Striving to obtain the wreath.  In Paul’s mind, there is no greater contest in life.  We are all called to agon, often in agony, in order to obtain that unfading crown.  From the day we join the Kingdom, until the day we are relieved of duty, we are fighters for God.

But if you thought Christian agon had any other similarities to the Olympics, you would be mistaken.  Our fight is not with power, agility, speed or strength.  We do not fight with the weapons of this world.  Why?  Because the fight is not of this world in spite of the fact that the battleground is in this world.  If we become confused and begin to fight with conventional weapons, we have already given the enemy enormous advantage.  The enemy owns these weapons.  The Prince of this world has already taken complete advantage of power, agility, speed and strength.  So God chooses another way. 

Actually, God’s way has never been with weapons that could be co-opted for enemy use.  God uses the weapons that no Prince of this world would dare to pick up because the weapons themselves are antithetical to the purposes of the dark Prince.  What could Satan possibly do with humility, submission, sacrifice or weakness?  Nothing!  The very ideas behind these words are blasphemy to him.  God fights with weapons that cannot become part of the kingdom of this earth.  It is well for us to remember this, for we tread on dangerous ground when we think we can fight fire with fire.

Realizing that the weapons of the Prince of darkness have no place in our hands only makes our agon all the more intense.  We must resist the devil and, at the same time, resist the temptation to pick up what seems so natural for warfare.  We fight on two fronts at the same time – resistance of the evil one and resistance of his methods.  This two-front battlefield raises a terrifying question for each of us:  can we really win through sacrifice, submission, weakness and humility?  It seems so impossible.  All of the world shouts, “Loser!  Idiot!  Coward!”  The truth is that we cannot win.  We are not expected to win.  Jesus did not win.  He was obedient unto death.  In His obedient death, God won!  God turned the tables on the Prince of darkness because Jesus was obedient with the weapons of a loser.  We do not fight for our victory.  We fight so that through our obedience, God makes His own victory!