True Christianity is a Fight

Many of you know that I have been reading the books and sermons lately of J.C. Ryle. I highly advise you to do the same. In his book Holiness, chapter 4, he writes this:

There are thousands of men and women who go to churches and chapels every Sunday, and call themselves Christians. Their names are in the baptismal register. They are reckoned Christians while they live. They are married with a Christian marriage service. They mean to be buried as Christians when they die. But you never see any “fight” about their religion! Of spiritual strife, and exertion, and conflict, and self-denial, and watching, and warring, they know literally nothing at all. Such Christianity may satisfy man, and those who say anything against it may be thought very hard and uncharitable; but it certainly is not the Christianity of the Bible. It is not the religion which the Lord Jesus founded, and His Apostles preached. It is not the religion which produces real holiness. True Christianity is “a fight.”

Holiness: Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties, and Roots (p. 74). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

I want to tell all of you that if you are a real Christian, then your life is going to be a fight. The world, the flesh, and the devil are your sworn enemies out to ruin your soul. And I am also convinced that Christians who are married to an abusive spouse are in fact right in the middle of this warfare the Bible talks about. I am sure that at the root of the hatred abuser spouses have for their victim is a hatred for Christ. They hate their husband/wife because they hate Christ. They see Christ in their spouse and the darkness hates the light.

We who are in Christ are ALL in this raging battle in one form or another. As Ryle says, following Christ means being a soldier in the Lord’s army opposing the devil and his minions. Domestic abuse is, when the victim is a Christian, a spiritual battle in essence.

Joh 15:18-20 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. (19) If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. (20) Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.