Wage the good warfare

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, - 1 Timothy 1v18

I don’t know where the church has picked up the idea that the Christian life was going to be easy. Perhaps, in the West at least, it is because we have not seen hard times for many generations. We somehow have adopted the idea that being a Christian is all about safety, security, comfort, and ease. In many parts of the West Christians are well respected, honoured, lifted up, and wined and dined by important people and politicians. Vehicles worth millions of dollars jam into multi-million dollar car parks surrounding opulent megaplexes to hold services in their plush climate controlled surroundings. Persecution means having to work on a Wednesday night and missing a mid-week prayer meeting. Persecution in America means that churches might lose their tax-exempt status. Persecution means being called a ‘Bible thumper, Jesus freak,’ or a ‘holier.’

Yet, in the New Testament we read things like, ‘all those who live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.’ Here we read of the warfare of the Christian life. We are not going to ‘get along’ with this world – if we do there is something wrong. We don’t have to go out and pick the fight. The fight is going to come to us and we had better be ready to fight it.

There are indications now that the easy days may be drawing to a close. We ought not be surprised. The scary thing is that we may have become so comfortable and at ease that we are not able to fight the real fight. We have been infighting and shooting our comrades for so long that we have depleted our ranks. We had better heed Paul’s words and have the ‘faith and good conscience’ required or we too will be made shipwreck like Hymenaeus and Alexander.

Why are we shocked when the world hates us? Why are we surprised when laws threaten us? The warfare is coming; I now suspect it may even be in my own lifetime. Are we ready?