“Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…”
(1 Tim. 6:12)
There are many things we know about Katniss Everdeen. She lives in a futuristic, tyrannical society with her mother and younger sister, Primrose. At age eleven, she became the main provider for her family after her father was killed in a tragic mine accident. She hunts and trades illegally to keep her family alive. She is forced to enter a reaping each year and potentially go into an arena with 23 other kids from across the country who are required to fight the death on screen for the entertainment of the corrupt Capital citizens. This year, her sister was chosen for the Hunger Games, but Katniss volunteered to go in her place.
We know many things about Katniss, but perhaps her strongest quality is her instinct to fight. In District 12, she fights to keep her family alive every single day. In the arena, she is determined to fight to stay alive and come back home. When all odds are against her, it just makes her will to fight even stronger.
As Christians, we are also called to fight. Granted, we (probably) won’t be forced to fight to the death physically, but you better believe we are fighting spiritually. In Ephesians 6, we are told to “put on the whole armor of God” so we can “stand against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). Later in the chapter, Paul gives examples of what the armor of God consists of (breastplate of righteousness, helmet of salvation, sword of the spirit, etc.).
Just as Katniss wasn’t able to stay alive in the arena without gifts from sponsors and her mentor, Haymitch, we aren’t able to stay alive spiritually without these gifts of armor that can only come from God. He knows what we’re up against and has promised to never leave us (Heb. 13:5). With a promise like that, what have we got to be worried about?
Paul tells us to “fight the good fight of faith” (1 Timothy 6). Although the earliest Christians knew what it was like to fight for their lives physically, they also understood that the war they were in was a spiritual one. They understood that being faithful unto death meant being rewarded with the crown of life, which can only come from God through his son Jesus (Rev. 2:10, John 14:6).
In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, near the end of his earthly life, he wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7) How amazing would it be if we could say those words near the end of our lives? Wouldn’t that be amazing if we could say them NOW?
There are many things we know about Katniss Everdeen. She fought and won the Hunger Games, just like we CAN fight and win the spiritual war we are in. We shouldn’t be afraid because nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom. 8:38-39) and the battle is already won (1 Cor. 15:57).
Are you staying faithful to God by resisting the schemes of the devil (James 4:7)? Are you being a warrior for God and spreading his word to others (Mat. 28:19-20)? Are you fighting the good fight of faith?
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