Jude 1:3-5 ( NKJV )
Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Yesterday we saw how the Israelites’ “slave” mentality contributed to their lack of faith when it came to entering the promised land. We also discussed the idea that our own lifestyle, which is so dominated by ease and entertainment, has given us a slave mentality of sorts. If something is difficult it is seen as not worth doing. If we have to wait for something we feel deprived. If a thing is not entertaining we don’t want to do it.
In all of this we hinder our ability to walk by faith. The faith walk is not always easy. The faith walk requires effort on our part. The faith walk is rarely entertaining and usually involves waiting. The faith walk also produces a life that is free of bondage as well as blessed in every way. When we think like slaves to our culture we will tend to turn back to what is comfortable at the first sign of opposition instead of facing the “giants and walled cities” of our life.
In the above verse Jude is preparing to write what I think could have been a teaching letter about living the Christian life. Instead he hears that those he is writing to have been drifting. In this case it would seem that they have been drifting into sin and compromise. They were accepting practices that seemed to be sinful and trying to justify them as legitimate parts of Christianity. Although I don’t think that our situation in the church is an exact parallel to theirs, I do believe that we have allowed sinful unbelief to become a part of our lifestyle and we need to fight for the vibrant active faith that we used to have.
We need to fight for a faith that believes God is capable of anything His word says He is. We need to fight for that kind of faith, not just in theory, but in reality. We need to fight for a faith that believes the promises of God are true for us today. If it is not personal it is not faith. This has been attacked by the devil and we need to take back what he has stolen from us.
Often we don’t see things happen as we think they should. However we need to understand that we can’t set the parameters for how God meets our needs. In my life, when I look back I can see so many answers that came in ways I didn’t initially see them. They may have been in the form of protection, the right relationship or some other means that didn’t seem to apply at the time but in retrospect the hand of God was all over the circumstance.
Sometimes we have asked for the wrong thing or for something for which we were not ready. Sometimes we have misinterpreted the Word or not met the conditions of a promise. None of these are reasons to back off our faith. They are reasons to press in to faith in God, learn the Word better and keep fighting the “good fight of faith” until we see more clearly and have a fuller understanding of how faith works.
It may take time. It may take some hard work and discipline. It will require we study and meditate in the Word of God. It will require some patience. Things may not come when we want them to. God may work in us before He works in the circumstance, however in the end I believe it will be worth it. I have experienced the fruit of this lifestyle. Not as fully as I believe I can, but I have experienced it. The benefits are not just in our outward circumstances but in our inward life. They are not just in what we have but the effectiveness and impact of the life we live.
I urge you to contend for the faith with me. In the end our victory is assured.
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