1 Timothy 6:11-12
But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
"If you decide to fight, you must also decide to win"
If you determine that something is serious enough to fight about, then you must also determine to be serious about winning the fight. There is no point in fighting if you aren't attempting to win. If winning isn't important, then it isn't worth fighting over.
Matthew 5:43-45a
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven."
"We love our enemies by opposing them"
We do not love our enemies by agreeing with their falsehoods. We do not love them by allowing them to win. We love them by opposing them to their faces, treating our differences with integrity and fighting them tooth and nail over what we hold most dear. You do not love them by allowing them to believe our differences don't matter. You don't love them well by leading them to believe that our beliefs are not worth fighting for. You do not love them by letting them think their persecution is God's preference.
In order to fight the good fight and to love our enemies, we must be willing to fight when necessary and willing to win whenever we throw down.
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