LAYING HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE -- Monday:
"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:12, NKJV)
Faith brings us into spiritual warfare. As soon as we are persuaded of the truth of the Gospel, the powers of darkness are aggressive against us. These powers know that "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen" (Heb 11:1) neutralize their influence upon us. Like Elymas the sorcerer, they seek to turn us away "from the faith" (Acts 13:8). Unless the believer engages the enemy, determined to "keep the faith," there is no hope of remaining a believer. Eventually, under the assault of principalities and powers, the slothful soul will "fall away" (Luke 8:13).
This circumstance, however, is not to produce fear and discouragement in the child of God. Rather, this provides us an opportunity to have our faith confirmed and our boldness increased. Thus the admonition to "fight the good fight of faith." This is a hearty effort to keep the faith, rejecting the entrance of doubt and fear.
The ultimate objective is to "lay hold on" or take hold of, " eternal life." The idea is to get a grip on eternal life, to grasp it firmly – to seize it with both hands. Mind you, this is written to a premier believer, Timothy. Of him Paul said, "For I have no one like-minded, who will sincerely care for your state" (Phil 2:20, NKJV). If such a unique servant of Christ could be so admonished, what of those who are not so characterized?
Much historical and contemporary theology has taught men to take eternal life for granted. Some teach that once we come into eternal life, it is locked on us like a shackle, and can never be loosened or forfeited. Additionally, there are some who do not place a value on eternal life at all. These people emphasize this world, life in the flesh, and things that are temporal. Many of them are persuaded the possession of eternal life, at the very best, is uncertain as long as we are in this world in the world.
This text confirms that we do not yet have the whole of eternal life. Nor, indeed, as long as we are "in the body" is it fully within our grasp. Those are things we must fight to appropriate, and they will not be realized apart from the "good fight of faith."
There are at least two aspects to laying hold on eternal life. Both of them involve our hearts, preferences, and convictions. Without these evidences, it is audacious to assume one has eternal life. Further, both of these are areas in which Satan will seek to turn us from truth.
The first is the confident persuasion that we "have eternal life" (1 John 5:13). This knowledge is based upon spiritual evidence. One primary confirmation is loving Christ's brethren. "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14). Only those with eternal life place a high value and preference upon those who are in Christ Jesus.
The Second is our unwavering faith in Christ. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (John 3:36). "He that believeth on me hath everlasting life" (John 6:47). Believing on the Son involves the subordination of all competing pursuits. It includes taking up our cross daily, and sitting at the feet of Jesus, regardless of what it takes for that to be accomplished. In believing on Christ we are resigning our future to Him, trusting He will "bring us to God" (1 Pet 3:18).
Laying hold on eternal life means that our aggressiveness to appropriate Christ continues to increase as long as we are in the body. Even if one is a seasoned Apostle who has received an abundance of revelations, he must still cast off everything that is gain to him in order that he might "win Christ" (Phil 3:8).
This involves keeping under our body, and bringing it into subjection – refusing to follow its lusts, lest we ourselves be rejected of the Lord (1 Cor 9:27). Ungodliness and worldly lusts will surface through the "old man," but they are to be denied in preference of eternal life (Tit 2:12).
From another perspective, laying hold on eternal life requires the resistance of the devil, our adversary, who stalks us, seeking to devour us. When he assaults us with all manner of grief and hardship, like he did Job, Paul, and others, our response must be consistent. "Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world" (1 Pet 5:8-9).
How beautifully the situation of the believer is described by Paul. "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:12-14).
Be encouraged to engage the enemy, fighting the good fight of faith, and getting a more firm grasp on eternal life. After all, it is eternal life "to which you were also called," so fight to be assured of your possession of it.
PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You in Jesus' name, for bringing eternal life within my grasp. Grant me grace to fight to maintain my faith, and thus obtain a more firm grasp upon eternal life.