“I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith:”-2 Timothy 4:7
When I was young, my parents spent a great deal of time and
energy trying to train me to keep my room clean. There were many glorious battles won and lost
on this front. At the time, I didn't
understand what the big deal was, but now that I am older I see the value in a
kept home. They understood this long
before I did, and worked to teach me.
Like many young people, I was not always the best student, and I am
certain I am not the only one. The issue
was, as with many youngsters, that it took diligence and commitment to keep the
room. It didn't just happen. You had to put your stuff back once you used
it, take out the dirty clothes, take out the trash, make the bed, etc. This was something that required constant
attention and commitment, which was not easy for me. I was not persuaded of the value of a clean
room. I just wanted to play. Plus, as long as I kept track of all my
stuff, what difference did it make if it was in a drawer or not? If I could locate it, didn't that mean that I
had kept it?
We can be tempted to take the same ideology when it comes to our
spiritual life. When you receive the
gift of the Holy Ghost, and you are brought into an understanding of the faith,
this is a precious thing, and it should be kept; but not in the way that a
teenager keeps his room. Simply because
you can locate it does not necessarily mean that you have “kept the faith.” You may walk into a kid’s room, as my parents
once did, and demand that they clean the place up, they reply “why? I know where everything is?” In their immature way of thinking they
perceive that simply because they can locate their stuff amidst the wreckage,
it means that they have kept it. It is
not lost, therefore it is kept. This is
the logic. We are the same way when we let
the devil creep in and diminish our joy, rob our peace, and cause our devotion
time to dwindle down to nothing. If
pressed upon, we can drum up some testimony, and simply because we can
accomplish this we believe we have “kept the faith.” However, if you were to look inside and
really examine yourself, a more accurate description would be “I can locate the
faith…..somewhere in there.” Somewhere amongst the worldly desires, and pleasures of this life; somewhere amidst all
the: I want’s, I need’s, and I love’s….somewhere in there is the faith. A kept faith is like a kept house. It takes diligence, perseverance, and
commitment. You have to be persuaded of
the value of it. You have to daily
communion with God through reading and praying, asking him to prune your
life. You will have to remove some
things from your life, and you will have to put some things away, wait on the
Lord, until one day you may be called upon to take them out again. You have to “keep the faith.” It must be done day in and day out, this is
not because God is cruel, but because he knows that this is what is best for
you.
Paul fought a good fight, finished his course, and kept the
faith. He tending to it daily and he
lived it to the letter. This was the
chief joy in his life and it landed him home in heaven. Some may look on at sanctified people who:
read, pray, go to church, preach to the lost, witness, and minister, and they
may think that they have boring lives.
They may think it easier to just let the whole thing go and do what you
please, but really and truly it is far more enjoyable to serve God and keep the
faith, than to serve yourself and constantly have to work to find the
faith. There is no greater joy than the
joy of the Lord, and no greater calling than the one he has for you. Keeping the faith is keeping His will first
in your life, and when you do that you are blessed; exceedingly and above all
you will ever ask or think.
