As the apostle Paul came to the close of his second letter to his spiritual son Timothy, he spoke of the Christian life as a fight to be fought, a race to be run, and a faith that is to be steadfastly maintained. In his first letter to Timothy, Paul admonished him to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6:12, KJV). As he looked back over his life, he concluded, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, and I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7). In his commentary on the text, noted Bible scholar Matthew Henry observes: “[Paul] did not fear death, because he had the testimony of his conscience that, by the grace of God, he had in some measure answered the ends of living. As a Christian, as a minister, he had fought a good fight. He had done the service, gone through the difficulties of his warfare, and had been instrumental in carrying on the glorious victories of the exalted Redeemer over the powers of darkness.”
In his letter to the church at Corinth, Paul writes, “In a race, everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest, you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears” (1 Corinthians 9:24–25, TLB). Eugene Peterson paraphrases these verses, “You’ve all been to the stadium and seen the athletes race. Everyone runs; one wins. Run to win. All good athletes train hard. They do it for a gold medal that tarnishes and fades. You’re after one that’s gold eternally” (The Message). Paul not only concluded that he had fought a good fight, but that he had finished his course.
On these verses, Bible Commentator John Gill writes, “The act of ‘running’ is a motion forward, a following on to know the Lord, a going from strength to strength, from one degree of grace to another, a pressing forward toward the mark for the prize; and requires spiritual strength from Christ, and a daily renewal of it. [It] is to be performed with readiness, swiftness, and cheerfulness, in opposition to a slowness of heart to believe, and a slothfulness and sluggishness in the business and service of Christ.” It is no wonder Paul was able to say, “I have finished the course,” because his life was one constant act of running; right up to these last days before his execution.
George Matheson was right when he said, “We conquer—not in any brilliant fashion—we conquer by continuing.” With that thought in mind, how are you doing in your fight? How are you doing in your race?
