Mentoring Youth In Pastoral MinistrySample

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

Paul knew that as a young pastor, Timothy would face many challenges ahead that put his faith on trial. He teaches Timothy how to steer and steady his faith-ship from being shipwrecked (1 Timothy 1:19).

To keep his faith strong, Paul mentored Timothy to fight the good fight of faith, a fight to always do what is right until the end. In 2 Timothy 4:7, Paul wrote to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

These three statements reflect Paul’s struggles in preaching the Gospel of Christ and his victory over those struggles, even when people around him were leaving him. When Paul wrote, "I finished the race", he was not writing about the race distance but wrote about the enabling power of God's grace to run the race in spite of all the challenges and conflicts faced. He is saying he had put every effort into the work of proclaiming to all people the gospel of salvation. He had completed the race set before him, and he had left nothing unfinished. He was finally ready to cross the finish line into Heaven. That is faith. Fight the good fight till the end!

He continued believing in the power of the resurrected Christ. He mentioned that though he is suffering for the gospel by being chained, the Word of God is not chained (2 Timothy 2:8-9).

In Timothy's spiritual life, he had to... Fight, Run, Keep. He had to learn to fight the good fight, run the race to finish, and keep the faith.

In ancient sports, runners underwent rigorous physical training. Paul used this race analogy for Timothy's faith life. In a race, only one runner wins. However, in the Christian “race,” every participant for the cause of Christ wins. We are not competing against one another but against the struggles — physical and spiritual, that stand in our way to get the prize.

Ancient runners were motivated to win a temporary crown, but while serving Christ, we run to win an eternal crown. Timothy is exhorted and mentored by Paul to be diligent and steadfast in his “race,” and to keep his eyes set on the goal. And like Paul, to finish the race strong!