Fight the Good Fight

We have just started an equipping series in church on how to study the Bible. And we studied 2 Timothy 4, and this is what I gathered from my studying:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.
2 Timothy 4:7-8

I have fought the good fight
The good fight. The most basic of our fights. The battle between good and evil. The good fight of faith. We are in a battle, aren't we? We knew that. As children, we knew the most basic of our fights. But as we grew older, the situations become more complex. And our desires often grey out what we used to see as wrong.

I have finished the race
Life. We have hat rat races, running a business, running from hurts. We run life. But why call it a race? Why the competitive element to it? Urgency. That is why. We never really know how much more time we have. But this is a race and there is an urgency to do the things God has called us to do.

I have kept the faith
Faith can dwindle. Faith can drop. But the idea is to sustain the faith until the end.

The crown of righteousness
What is righteousness? It's basically fulfilling our end of the bargain in our relationship with God. And it doesn't say here that we will achieve righteousness. Rather, it will be crowned us. Do what needs to be done, and at the end of it, He will make us worthy.

Overall take-home
Press on. I may be faltering, and I may want to give up with all the failures I have as a Christian. But we have to press on. Do what needs to be done, and do it with a sense of urgency. And at the end of it all, God will make you worthy of the relationship with Him.