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Have You Fought The Good Fight?


For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. (II Timothy 4:6-8) 

          Can you imagine coming to the end of your life and knowing that you had fought the good fight, finished the race and kept the faith? I can’t. I feel as though I have wasted so much time, done so little, failed so often. It’s not that I have any ideas of what I really should have done, or could have done. I just know that my life has been a disappointment to God. 
          Now for the dose of hard truth. God is in charge. He’s not interested in whether or not I fought (and won) every fight. It doesn’t matter whether I finished every race. It’s likely that He doesn’t even measure success in the way that I do. I am growing more convinced than ever before that victory in God’s eyes has to do with three keys: love, faith, and truth. I find myself thinking of them as three sides of a triangle. They cannot be separated. Like the trinity, they are not the same, and yet they are one. And could the result of the three together be righteousness? It’s something to consider.

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