Thought for the week

AS I sit here writing, the Russian invasion of Ukraine is, and rightly so, headline news. I am reminded to (and I do) keep the Ukrainian and Russian people in my thoughts and prayers.

The Russian invasion is one of around sixty armed conflicts that are currently taking place in our world today (Source: Wikipedia).

Last year twenty-one countries were involved in conflicts where the casualty rate reached more than 1,000 people (Source: World Population Review). 82.4 million people were forcibly displaced in 2020 as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order (Source: UNHCR).

In amongst the many letters and writings that are found in the Bible, a guy called Paul instructs his student Timothy to ‘fight the good fight of the faith’ (1 Tim 6:12). This commonly used idiom is used to encourage us to hold on to our ideals despite the challenges we may face.

Paul includes it directly after a warning about the dangers of greed, jealousy, suspicion and ‘friction between people’.

Paul, living in a Roman occupation, was well aware of the human traits that lead to conflict. He includes another well-known phrase ‘the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.’

To counteract the effect of such dangers Paul compels Timothy to ‘arm’ himself with righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

Paul is reminding Timothy about the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection and the new type of life for those who follow him.

This new life comes with the divine support of peace, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.

Peace is not just the absence of conflict, it requires a different sort of fight.