Fight the Good Fight

In our worship services, we sing hymns. I hope that you pay close attention to the words of these hymns. The words of our hymns contribute to our worship of God in much the same ways that the prayers and scripture readings do.

This Sunday morning, our Sequence Hymn (the hymn that is sung right after we read the Epistle) is a perfect example of a hymn text that further illumines a scripture text, the First Epistle to Timothy (6:12). The hymn sings:

Fight the good fight with all thy might,
Christ is thy strength and Christ thy right;
Lay hold on life, and it shall be
Thy joy and crown eternally.

As I listen to First Timothy, and as I sing this hymn, I wonder:

What fight are you and I fighting?
What life are you and I laying hold of?