Kept the Faith
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Readings: Isaiah 35.3-6 2 Timothy 4.5-13 Luke 10.1-9
"...... the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."
(2 Tim 4.6b-7)Life for all of us is a series of departures. Departure is also the word for death, a going away. "Moving away from one place into a better one" is the idea. To St. Paul, "Death" is leaving the earthly body behind setting the eternal spirit free, "striking camp to take up residence in the heavenly places. We may not faced with death right now but there are enough depressing words like disease, diversion, displacement confronting us during these frightening days of wars and rumours about almost every thing threatening to destroy us. We need to move on trustingly.
The secret of personal victory is in the word "
Faithfulness". Deprived and deserted, St. Paul could count on a trusted and faithful friend at his side: "Luke alone is with me". (2Tim4.11). He himself had been faithful to the end. He left behind three classic pictures of faithfulness in his life.a) "I have fought the good fight"
Everybody is fighting, some for wealth, some for place and power. With St. Paul, where did the fight begin? Within. The fight is between "the flesh" and "the spirit". "The law in my members warring against the law of my mind." The struggle to uphold what is good and hold down what is evil. What about the inner conflict striving for justice, goodness, and truth - the good fight of faith?There is satisfaction in knowing that no stones have been left unturned in this Christian battle. I cannot see any enemy unconquered or unforgiven. Timothy may be shrinking from it and Demas has given it up while I remain faithful to the end.
b) "I have finished the race"
In any undertaking, it is easy to start but hard to continue and extremely difficult to finish. The Christian life, for St. Paul is like a race in any Olympic Games. Constant dedication and faithfulness in practice and preparation for the prize of the high calling of Jesus Christ. There is deep satisfaction in reaching the finishing line. Remember those words of accomplishment by Jesus Christ on the cross. "It is finished !"c) "I have kept the faith"
Before the Olympic Games, the competitors took the solemn oath that they had practised hard for over a long period; that they would keep the rules of honour in their contest. So St. Paul says: "I have kept the rules. I have played the game within the marked out course, the defined track." Lawfully. No cheating. No cross, no crown. No short cut to heaven - the way of Christ.Keeping faith involves sincerity and loyalty in living out what one has taken in. The old man believes what he has believed since childhood. His striving for what is best has increased his faith, his joy has enriched it , his sorrow has deepened it, his doubts have sobered it, his enthusiasm has fired it, his loyalty has sustained it throughout his life. There is this tremendous satisfaction to be able to say sincerely: "I have kept the faith."
LUKE OOI