MUSIC BLOG 04-25-25
MUSIC BLOG
04/25/2025
GET BACK IN THERE AND KEEP FIGHTING!
The Good Confession
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. 12 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.
I grew up in the Kansas City area. I was born in Lawrence, KS, but my family moved to Kansas City when I was about 3. We lived for a short time off of 39th Street, and then my parents bought a house off Blue Ridge Parkway overlooking what is now the Arrowhead Stadium. The subdivision is on a big hill, and our house was 6 or 7 houses down on the right side of the street. It was a new home, with red cedar siding. It had about 1000 sq. ft. on the first floor and a full basement. The parents and girls lived upstairs, the boys had the basement, and we all shared the common bath.
We had many firsts at that house. I started kindergarten while living there. We made a 12-foot-tall snowman in that house. Two of my siblings were born while we lived there. And my dad bought us an old bike. That statement may not be a big deal to most, but to us, a bike meant freedom. We could get to the corner store for candy and back much quicker. We could go and meet up with friends in the neighborhood and ride our bikes. It was a step to independence that was dizzying. The only problem was that this bike was huge. It was the old-style bicycle. It had a bar between the seat and handlebars bar so you had to have long legs to ride it. Or you had to help getting on the bike. We each took turns after my sister Shari learned how to ride. She taught us. Shari could ride all over the place, and she did. We just wanted to be able to come down the hill into our yard without crashing. So, we pushed the bike up the hill and began to learn how to maneuver it into our yard.
It seems that we had several runs at it. Mostly, Mick was getting the benefit of the rides since he was older and a bit taller. His feet almost touched the pedals. But he was able to race down the hill (that felt like a mountain) and hit the brakes and safely land in the yard. If we missed our house, the bike would go careening down the hill and plummet us to our deaths. (That was my thought anyway!) It all went well until it didn’t. One day in the early process of learning to ride a bike, Mick hopped on the bike and started to push it up the hill. I think we had just gotten home from school. Mick was in third grade and nearly grown up. As he came down the hill, I remember being in awe with how fast he went. It seemed that he was going faster than usual. I remember thinking he should begin to slow down. Then it hit me that he might not make our yard, and then he would take the plunge down the hill. We began to frantically wave him into the yard. With super hero strength, Mick steered the behemoth of a bike into the yard at speeds upward of 70 mph ( maybe 15) and looked for a place to stop the uncontrollable bullet. He chose the only thing that made sense, the gas lamp at the foot of the sidewalk. With a sigh of relief, the bike came to a shuddering stop and Mick popped off. He was bleeding slightly, but very much alive, and the bike seemed unfazed. He got back on and rode a victory lap in the driveway. We all cheered him on, our conquering hero.
Life is like this. There are times when we, despite all our planning, fall. It hurts. Our pride is shattered. We are crestfallen. Paul told Timothy to fight the good fight of faith. He knew that would be a lifelong struggle with many ups and downs. He told Timothy to fight it anyway and keep on fighting.
Let’s turn this around. All scripture is given by God to instruct. God is saying the same thing to us that Paul did to Timothy. He is saying that the struggle is real and the struggle is our entire life. Keep on fighting. Don’t give up! Also, don’t do it in your own strength. When we are born into the family of God, we are given an empty glove. That glove has potential but no strength on its own. To perform great things for God, we must be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. The hand going into the glove is like the Holy Spirit filling the Christian. If we desire to accomplish anything for God, we must first be filled with His Spirit. We cannot be filled with His Spirit when we are filled with self. Emptying our spirits of self is the best way to begin. We will fall down. It's a part of the process. Peter denied, Thomas doubted and temptation happens! The bigger question is not will I fall, but rather how long will I stay down? just like my brother got up for his victory lap, we need to get up after a failure. We don't want to miss that glorious moment by allowing Satan to keep us mired in our sorrow, disappointment and pain. Get up! Get back in the fight Gods not done with you and He's not finished with me.
Take some time this week to pray, seek God, and ask.
Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit. Then be amazed and what He does through you
Blessings,
Marty