Listen:  108.6

I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”  These words were written a few months before Paul’s death.  Even in his prison cell, Paul could say that he had accomplished what the Lord had sent him to do.  Let’s examine these three things that Paul mentions in this verse.

“I have fought a good fight.”  The Christian life is often referred to as a battle or a fight.  Paul encouraged Timothy in 1 Timothy 6:12 to, “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.”  The fight is a good and noble fight of faith, a fight with the world, the flesh, and the devil.  It is to “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” as we read in Jude, verse 3.

“I have finished my course.”  The Christian life is also referred to as a race that has to be run faithfully and continuously.  Paul wrote in Acts 20:24, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”  In Acts, he wrote of the race before him, while in 2 Timothy, he wrote of the race that was behind him.

“I have kept the faith.”  Paul had remained faithful to his Lord and His Word.  We read in 2 Timothy 1:14, “That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.”  We also read in 1 Corinthians 4:2, “Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”  To be a true steward, or servant, of the Lord we must remain faithful to Him and His Word.

In order to accomplish all the Lord has for us to do, we learn from this portion that we have to fight; we have to finish, and we have to be faithful to the Lord and His Word.  How precious it would be to hear from the Lord those same words that He said of Mary in Mark 14:8, “She hath done what she could…”  (108.6)