“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing” – 2 Timothy 4: 7-8(KJV).
This is a statement of a man who has accomplished his God given assignment. His assertion of task accomplishment is with certainty of receiving his due reward. Paul the Apostle unambiguously stated what his expectation is from the righteous judge according to all His promises. He is not in doubt because his assignment was clear to him as his completion of it is also very clear. If you were given a test after which you were given the answers and asked to score yourself, there shouldn’t be doubt as to your score. This was the case with Paul. He had a clear understanding of his God given assignment and can authoritatively say “I have finished my course”. In scoring himself, the Apostle to the Gentile nations can confidently say “I have fought a good fight”. However, in all this, the most important position of all his personal assessment is “I have kept the faith”. Many great men of God have done great exploits in their walk with God but most of them fell by the wayside having conceded to the spirit of pride, spirit of immorality and sexual promiscuity etc. etc. They were overtaken by the power of the flesh. But that was not in Paul’s case who can beat his chest and say –I have kept the faith. This is the most important aspect of this apostolic assertion. Keeping the faith is what gave meaning to Paul’s statement as he cannot be said that he fought a good fight, neither could he have said I have finished my course if he ended up not in faith. What is important in all our Christian pursuit and purpose is to keep the faith to the end. Keeping faith to the end must of a necessity be a personal assertion, as it is a position that only God and the individual can attest to. We must, therefore, in our pursuit of vision, have as our top priority, the paramount importance of ensuring that all our actions and deeds are tailored towards remaining in faith.
All our efforts are lost if in the cause of trying to fulfil our task we engage in actions that will displace us at the appearing of Christ. This is what Paul meant by those “who love His appearing”. You cannot be looking forward to his appearing as a backslider or a reprobate. This is what prompted Paul in his letter to the Philippian church to say “Wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling” – Phil. 2:12(KJV). It is the fear of the Lord that produces godly sorrow when we err, “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of” –2 Corinthians 7:10a(KJV). The importance of keeping faith to the end is what made Paul to say in 1 Corinthians 9.27(KJV): “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway”. The seriousness of the issue of keeping faith to the end underscores the statement of Christ in Matthew 26:41(KJV) “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
My dear reader we must strive to avoid taking our Christian faith for granted. We must keep faith by working out our salvation with fear and trembling for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
Prayer: Father endue me afresh with the Spirit of the fear of the Lord. Pour upon me the Spirit of Holiness that will cause me to live a consecrated life.
Bro. Joel Ezeugo