Craig T. Owens

You’ve probably heard that phrase before: Choose your battles wisely. It’s origins may come from these verses of Scripture—

Fight the good fight of faith…. Turn away from godless chatter and the opposing ideas of what is falsely called knowledge. (1 Timothy 6: 12, 20)

We are all in a spiritual battle. So what does it mean to fight the good fight of faith?

The word good means things that are beautiful, excellent, praiseworthy. In other words, good is what is God-glorifying.

And faith means that it’s not about my opinion or my advancement.

Bottom line: Don’t fight unless God’s Word or God’s character is being maligned. 

Turn away from godless chatter and opposing ideas. The King James Version describes these as vain and profane ideas. These sorts of battles are un-winnable, and therefore unworthy of your time and effort. 

My spiritual battles should not be chosen strategically, but biblically.

We need to put on our armor and fight, but the fight must be the good fight of faith. Don’t take the bait of those who just want to quibble over obscure and irrelevant opinions. But when the attack comes against God’s honor, or seeks to diminish His glory, it’s time to storm the battlefield!

May God give us the wisdom to know the difference.