According to the first verse of Colossians, the letter is written by Paul, but Timothy is also included as one of the senders of the letter. Paul and Timothy were very close. He was in Corinth on the second journey when Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, at Ephesus on the third journey when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, and in Rome during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. You might also notice that two of Paul’s later letters are addressed specifically to him, see 1st and 2nd Timothy.

Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, “I would rather be chained in a dungeon, wrist to wrist with a Christian, than to live forever with the wicked in the sunshine of happiness.” We all know that Paul was beheaded by Nero in about 65 AD. According to Hebrews 13:23, Timothy was also a prisoner and very likely experienced a similar death.

In 1 Timothy 6:12, Paul exhorts his friend to “Fight the good fight of the faith.” It is a battle of course! The goal is well worth fighting for and it requires fighting for. Paul then exhorts Timothy to “take hold of eternal life.” Both Paul and Timothy entered the battle and lost their physical lives as a result. But they both received what Jesus promised in John 10:10, “Life, life in its fullest.” William Wallace, the character of Braveheart, said, “Everyman dies, but not everyman truly lives.”

Some Christians have eternal life but never really “take hold” of it. Similarly some people who are alive physically never really enter into the fullness of life because they’d rather share the sunshine of happiness than the trials and struggles of “fighting the good fight of the faith”.

Much of it depends on who you are “wrist to wrist” with.

Chuck
“Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” 1 Tim 6:12

According to the first verse of Colossians, the letter is written by Paul, but Timothy is also included as one of the senders of the letter. Paul and Timothy were very close. He was in Corinth on the second journey when Paul wrote 1 and 2 Thessalonians, at Ephesus on the third journey when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians, and in Rome during Paul’s first Roman imprisonment, when he wrote Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. You might also notice that two of Paul’s later letters are addressed specifically to him, see 1st and 2nd Timothy.