Contest the Good Contest

12Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

13I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate,

14that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15which He will bring about at the proper time--He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

16who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

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fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12a)

In Greek, it translates to contest the good contest. In a recent Bible Study, we were discussing how it is less of a fight like war. Rather like a runner focus on the finish line.

take hold of the eternal life to which you were called (1 Timothy 6:12b)

Paul reminded Timothy that it is God who calls him to make a good confession. Focus is on God being the initiator.

I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate (1 Timothy 6:13)

The ministry that Timothy is being sent by Paul is not just in front of men, he is standing in the presence of God and of Jesus!

that you keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He will bring about at the proper time (1 Timothy 6:14-15a)

The appearing is the second coming of Jesus. And the proper time is the end time. It is also the right time.

In this passage we see Paul is painting a picture of past, present and future.

It started off with the present (at the time of the writing) that Paul is reminding Timothy that it is God who calls him to make a confession in front of everyone. Just as Jesus in the past had done so prior to the cross in front of Pontius Pilate. The focus though, is the future. The hope that Jesus will come back in the end time. For now, fight the good fight. Or contest the good contest. Keeping an end on the finish line while striving toward it.

..I have more to write...looking at some of my previous races. The focus is always go hard at the end. Like in a marathon (42 km), the first 30 km is really a set up for the last 12 km. As the race goes longer...as the finish line is getting closer, I go harder. My goal was to make sure I run the hardest in the last half of the race. More on that in the next post.