In the Bible verse of today Paul commands Timothy to fight the good fight of the faith and to take hold of the eternal life. We might say: but how is it possible to do this? After all, is it not so that we cannot take hold of the eternal life? That it must be granted to us?
That may be true, but if we really live by faith, then we cannot shift the responsibility by saying, ‘We have to wait until it is granted to us…’ For the Bible proclaims that God – in Christ - has already given us everything we need for a godly life (2 Peter 1:3).
Then only one pragmatic question remains: what do we do with this?
The Bible says that we should throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles (:1). That is an active deed by ourselves. We should keep a single aim in mind, and that aim is the perfect, eternal life with Jesus. That is ‘fighting the good fight of faith’ of which Paul speaks.
And of course we cannot possibly take hold of the eternal life if we fight by our own power. Our eyes must be fixed on Jesus, only through Him we can win the victory. And when we are entirely focused on Him, then we fight the good fight, because in this He went before us and will always go before us in total commitment. Living like that, in perfect dependence on the Lord, is the most worthwhile and harmonic life that exists: this is the purpose to which God created man!
What blessing that God offers us this wonderful and meaningful life also today, now, when we are reading these words. In Christ He has prepared everything for us. The only thing He asks of us is to choose this life, together with our children, so that we may live.