Fighting the Good Fight

Have you ever heard the phrase "fighting the good fight?" what does that mean? Isn't fighting by nature a violent action that would put it in a negative category? Aren't Christians supposed to be loving and fill the world with feel good vibes? Is fighting the good fight going along with every situation to fill it with love? Does it become good when only happiness is the result? What happens is only one side is happy, is it a good or bad fight? What is fighting the good fight? Have you ever definded it in your own life?
Before this I have never taken the time to sit down and think it out, I have never worked through the thought process. Begininng with the definition: fighting-1 fit to fight. 2 tending or meant to stir up a fight or hostility. Fight: 1 a battle or combat. 2 any contest or struggle: a fight for recovery from an illness. 3 an angry argument or disagreement. So the basic idea is engaging in some form of action that is inherately negative.
Society has mixed opinions. It is good to have personal beliefs and to stand up for them. Go individuality! But it is bad if your beliefs offend another faction or tell them they are wrong because everyone has the right to be right in todays world. If everyone has the right to be right, then it is relative to say to someone that they are wrong. Basically society thinks it is great to have an opinion but to not effect others with it. If relativity is the name of the game, then where is the truth in that. If a person truly believes in societies definition, then how can they tell you anything is right or wrong? How do they know if what they are fighting for is good if there is no scale to mesure it by?
What use is that? Why have a mind if you aren't going to share it? Why think about ideas if they are not going to be shared to contribute to growth? Were we put on this earth to exist by ourselves on function in a bubble? No, we were created as social people who would go mentally crazy without imput from other human beings. Without another person to share thoughts with, then they would never take root or become a manifestation to help the world. If Einstein had never shared the idea of light and kept it in his bubble, would we have the system of electricity?
Science, the exploration of the world and the things in it, goes about doing this by continually searching and trying to find out new things or take the things we already know deeper for the good of man. Science does all of its efforts for the advancement of human beings. So where does the discovery of atomic bombs fit into this equation? What about modern medicine that keeps people alive for a number of years in pain?
Before you get thinking one way, I am not knocking modern medicine. It does wonderful things, it saves lifes. But in the process of doing so it harms some as well. The atomic bomb also saved the lives of soldiers who might have died if the war continued, but it devastated not only the lives but the ecosystem of a country as well. All of this is human development, all of these inventions are run by human power. We are always trying to reach perfection, always trying to get to the next best thing. No matter how hard we try, we always end up short.
Society takes a relative view on the subject, so why even fight? If fighting is an action that one does to bring one to their side but their is not one right or wrong, what is the point? Science continually seeks deeper and deeper to fix the worlds problems. They progress, but with every new discovery comes new problems. Why continue to seek good if every new discovery brings new bad? Humans seek perfection and fall every time, some spend their whole life working for a goal that is never accompished. What is the point of trying if you know that perfection is unatainable? Exploring all options that are feasible in the human mind get us no where, we are no closer to answering the question.
Lets peek at the bible. Expicitely is has no answers. There is no verse that says fighgting the good fight means a b and c. But the bible does say what fighting the good is not. It does say love your neighbor as yourself. Which would mean that any action that if not out of love towards your neighbor is not good. The bible says that we should honor the lord our God. In fact it says we should not test the Lord our God. So any action that goes against God would not fall into this category. Those are just a few examples.
Lets dig into one in particular: sin. Sin is missing the mark. It is an archery term that refers to the arrow not hitting the bulls eye. No matter if the arrow misses the target completely or lands on the ring outside of the circle in the middle, a man would yell SIN. It mean that the archer had missed the mark, he had not obtained perfection. So it was previously mentioned that we should honor the lord our God, so sin would obviously not fit in this category. The bible also says that all sin and fall short of the glory of God, how can man then live a life pleasing to God? How can man be good?
He can't, in his nature he cannot be good. But that is where the role of Jesus comes in. Perfect in life, fully man and fully god, he died on a cross for our sins. He took the wages of death, the payment for spiritual seperation from the father, on the cross. This action allows us to come into the presence of God, perfect and holy. It allows us to have unending acsess to the middle of the target. Thus allowing man to seen as good in God's eyes.
How does this relate to fighting the good fight? First there needs to be good in the equation, and that is through Jesus. The fight is living a life pleasing to the father. He clearly spells out in the bible what are not acceptable ways of living. By cementing the black and the white, it clearly shows where the grey is. The grey being each individual caracter. Every person that was created unique with his own purpose. How does he know what is good? The bible clearly states that God judges the motivation of mans heart and that he see the effort that are for his glory. This means different things to different people. Parents have a calling to raise godly children. Students have a calling to honor God with their acadmeics. Each fight is different.
Fighting the good fight is fighting sin and living every moment to shine the light of God and not man. It is relying fully on Christ and not the broken nature inside of us. It is knowing how to discern between truth and lies. It is continuing to apply fact to what we know to already be true. It is continuing to live in a world that is dark and draining and seeking to shine an eternal light.