Читать книгу At the End of the Day - James W. Moore - Страница 8

The word fight in the original Greek was agon, which gives us our word agony. Here, it means "I have given my all. I have stood tall for righteousness and goodness." It's the picture of an athlete leaving the field after having given a total and complete effort, physically drained, but knowing he has given his best, he has given his all. Paul was saying: "All that I am and all that I have, I have given to Christ and to his service; I have fought the good fight.

Many years ago, there was a movie called Stars in My Crown. It is the story of an older African American man who was a devout Christian. He owned a little farm outside a small southern town. Some precious metal was discovered on his property, and great pressure was brought upon him to sell the farm. But he refused to sell because he wanted to stay on the farm that his family had homesteaded. It was his home, and it had been the home of his parents and his grandparents. People, however, would not take no for an answer; they wanted to take advantage of him and cash in on the valuable resources on his farm. So they did everything they could to make him move. They criticized him openly and harshly. They burned down his barn. They shot bullets through his house. Eventually, they threatened to hang him at sundown.

A Methodist minister in the community heard about this and went to visit the older gentleman. While the minister was there, men from the town came out carrying blazing torches and wearing white hoods. The older man stepped out on the porch to face the mob. He was wearing his best clothes, the clothes he wore to church every Sunday. He said he was ready to die and that he had asked the minister to draw up his last will and testament. He then asked the minister to read his will aloud.

As the minister read the will, the mob was stunned because the older man was going to give everything he had to them. He willed the farm to the banker who seemed determined to get it from him any way he could. He gave his rifle to one of the white-hooded men in the crowd who happened to be the man who learned to hunt with this older man. To another, he gave his fishing rod. He literally gave everything he owned to those who wanted to kill him.

The impact on the mob was incredible. Seeing all this goodness and love given in the face of such hate and selfishness was more than they could stand. In shame and guilt and embarrassment, the men, one by one, turned away and went home, and in time, the entire lynch mob had disappeared.

While all this was happening, the grandson of the minister (who had come out to the farm with him) had been standing to the side of the porch, watching all of this with great curiosity. When the crowd left, he ran over to where his grandfather and the African American man were standing, and he said, "What kind of will was that?" The minister said, "That, my son, was the Will of God."

Indeed so! The will of God is for us to stand tall for what is good and right, but to do it in the spirit of love and grace, and to do it in the spirit of Christ. That's what it means to fight the good fight. The apostle Paul knew that Nero's "lynch mob" would be coming for him very soon, so he put on his clothes of righteousness and said, "Bring 'em on. I'm ready for anything, for Christ is my strength. It's okay. There is reserved for me a crown of righteousness in heaven. All that I am and all that I have, I have given to Christ and to his service; I have fought the good fight!"

Now, let me ask you something. Will you be able to say that at the end of the day? Will you be able to say, with the apostle Paul, "I have given my all for Christ. I have fought the good fight" ?