But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith… (1 Timothy 6:11-12).
Psychologists tell us that when faced with certain situations our bodies instinctively prepared to fight or flight. Knowing which situations to fight and which to run from are crucial for living a long and productive life.
It’s no different in the spiritual realm.
Christian leaders must know which things are worth the fight, and which things they simply must flee. To flee from things we should fight shows a lack of courage. But to try to fight the things we should run from shows a lack of wisdom.
A mark of a godly leader is one who knows what to fight and what to flee.
Three things you must FIGHT for…
- …the purity of the true faith (1 Timothy 6:12; Jude 1:3)
- …the disempowered (Proverbs 31:8-9; Matthew 21:12-13)
- …the devil (1 Peter 5:9; James 4:7; Ephesians 6:11)
Three things you must FLEE from…
- …idolatry (1 Corinthians 10:14)
- …sexual sin (1 Corinthians 6:18; Genesis 39:12)
- …earthly riches (1 Timothy 6:9-11)
Don’t try to fight the things you must flee from, and don’t run away from the things you must fight for. Pray for God’s wisdom to know which is which.
This is part 29 in my series on godly leadership. You can check out all of my posts in this series by clicking here.