Why the Gospel of the Lord Is Worth the Fight

It was one of the most humiliating days of my life. Even though it’s been more than 30 years since the event took place, I remember it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. I should have gotten into a fight that day, but I didn’t. Now I wish I had.

I was in middle school in Maryland, a seventh grader, when a bully pulled a prank on me known as a wedgie (if I have to explain it, we’re in trouble). It all happened so quickly after gym class one day, even with a crowd around, that I didn’t have a chance to respond. Humiliated, I trudged to the next class and took my seat. The teacher began to teach — but I wasn’t listening. I knew I had to do something, so I excused myself from class and went to the vice principal — giving him the play-by-play of what had just happened to me by a bully as other kids laughed.

The bully was suspended from school for three days.

When he returned, he was so furious at me that he wanted to fight, badly. For the next two days, each time he saw me in a classroom or passed me in a hallway, he called me vicious names and challenged me to a fistfight.

Since I was a Christian, and especially since I feared how my Christian parents would respond, I ignored his taunts and avoided the fight.

But looking back, I wish I had stood up for myself. He was wrong and I should have stood up for what was right. But in that moment, I didn’t have the guts. Cowardice won. Courage lost. As a result, evil essentially won the day.

The New Testament teaches us in Ephesians 6 that all Christians are engaged in a fight — a spiritual battle that rages all around us. Each day Satan and his evil hordes seek to suppress God’s truth and extinguish God’s work in the world. Everywhere we turn these days, evil is presented as a legitimate option — and error is offered up as acceptable truth.

Tangible examples include abortion on demand, the redefinition of marriage and gender, and false teachers proclaiming a “prosperity gospel” that promises unending riches and happiness. Even the plight of little Alfie Evans — the terminally ill toddler whose parents are battling the British authorities in the hope of keeping him alive — is part of this worldwide struggle between good and evil.

Related: Poor Little Alfie Evans — His Case Should Be a Wake-Up Call for America

The fight for righteousness and truth is on right now. What should our response be? The Bible says that every Christian should “contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3). In other words, we need to enter the struggle, and contend for what is right.

While this doesn’t mean we should take up arms or pursue physical violence, it does mean we should stand up and speak out in the defense of God’s truth wherever and whenever it is under attack. Are we up for the challenge? Will we shrink back in cowardice? Surely God’s glorious name, His infallible truth, and His pure gospel are worth fighting for — this we know. Now is the time for conviction, courage and valor, because we are not contending for our own ideas but God’s.

A new challenge stands before us right now: the ultimate battle of good versus evil — truth versus error.

As I look back decades ago to that fateful day when a bully bothered me, I wish I could go back and put up my dukes. But now it’s too late. I’m forced to live with the regret that when I came face to face with a bully, I shrank from the challenge. But that doesn’t mean a new challenge doesn’t stand before us right now: the ultimate battle of good versus evil — truth versus error.

Related: Hero Passenger Felt God Directing His Efforts

It’s taking place right here in our own generation — not in gym class but in real life.

The enemy has already landed some serious blows. Now it’s our turn.

Pastor Ryan Day is senior pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where he has served for 19 years.