Give Us This Day, Our Daily Battle

Some things in life are worth fighting for.

Agreeing with that statement is easy. Living it out is something else altogether. To live it out means to name what is worth fighting for in your life and to do battle every day, committing to waging warfare not just against occasional obstacles but to the daily threat of of atrophy and mediocrity.

The apostle Paul was able to name what was worth fighting for in his letter to Timothy, urging him to "fight the good fight" of faith (1 Tim. 1:18). He tells Timothy that he is writing and instructing him in order to help him in this fight; because if Timothy is not going to battle for his faith, he will, like others before him, "shipwreck" his faith (1:19).

This is of major consequence to those who profess to have faith. Many come to believe that once they have "arrived" on the faith scene, once they've had the mountaintop experience and joyously called out in love and trembling to the God of the universe, that they will never lose it. Not so, writes Paul. A faith that is ignored, not fought for, will be shipwrecked. A mediocre, lukewarm faith is no faith at all; real faith requires a battle.

The idea here rings true even for those who profess no faith. For whatever you name in your life that is worth fighting for can and will be "shipwrecked" without an active, daily, strategic, and purposeful plan of attack. If you're not fighting daily for your marriage, your skills, your success, your friendships, etc., they will not last. They may float along with no sense of imminent danger, merely lacking excitement and attention. But to float aimlessly is to sail towards shipwreck on an unrecognizable, undesirable island from which there is no map.

So fight. Name what is worth it, and go to battle today. Whatever is of value in your life, prove yourself worthy of it by joining the battle to keep it.