Fight the Good Fight of Faith, English Edition

 • Fight the Good Fight of Faith: Playing Your Part in God’s Unfolding Drama

What we have now rediscovered, with a good deal of understandable enthusiasm, is that the same principles, which apply to science and athletics and music, apply equally to our religious experience. Once it was modish to claim absolute freedom in such matters, looking with condescension on those who were bound by a rule, but such condescension is now out of date. We cannot help but see that those who have a rule to live by seem to have more power available. . . . We are beginning to see the wonderful truth that a Christian is one who is harnessed, wearing Christ’s yoke and thereby renouncing empty freedom. We see new significance in the Christian teaching that, whereas the way which leads to destruction is broad, the way which leads to life is intrinsically narrow. The Christian we now know, is not one who does as he pleases, but one, instead, who seeks to please the Lord.

~ Elton Trueblood. The Yoke of Christ . Waco, TX: Word Books Publisher, 1958, pp. 130-131.

Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life (Revelation 2.10).

Key Principle

Read and reflect upon the following cases and concepts, and provide answers and insights into their resolution, based on the texts you studied above. 1. “I feel like I’m on a roller-coaster – I go up, I come down, I go up, I come down.” A young person who accepted the Lord just a few months previous, communicated frustration with the troubles and problems he was facing. He had begun to experience tensions with the folks at home, misunderstandings on the job, and constant pressures from temptations, like never before. This cycle of events had begun to discourage this young soldier of Christ, and he started to wonder if he had in fact accepted Christ “in the right way.” Because he was experiencing so many issues, he thought “I feel like I’m on a roller-coaster – I go up, I come down, I go up, I come down. I am not very stable right now. I wonder if I am doing something wrong. A lot of Christians I know are not going through all this stuff like I am right now.” In light of the verses you have just studied, what advice would you give to this new Christian about his situation and what he should do about it?

Case Studies