Today’s Reading, 2-3 John & Jude
Focal Scripture: Jude 1:3 “Dear friends, although I was eager to write you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write, appealing to you to contend for the faith that was delivered to the saints once for all.”
Anything that matters is worth fighting for in your spiritual life and personal life. The fight lets you see just how important that “thing” is to you, because when it gets difficult you will have to make a decision to be all in or get on the sideline. Marriage is worth fighting for in our lives. Our children’s future is worth fighting for everyday. Biblical values and biblical faith must be fought for regardless of the cost. These battles build your endurance and teach valuable lessons.
In today’s reading we see a plea to contend for the faith. Why? Because it can be easy to become apathetic in our spiritual journeys. Apathy is a death sentence and leads to the destruction of families, churches, businesses and even relationships. Contending for them with passion and resilience builds up your ability to battle and increases your endurance for future struggles. The writer wants the gospel to be fought for with intense devotion. The gospel must be a priority.
So do you contend for the faith? Do you make biblical faith and Jesus a priority in your life? You can tell by how you treat biblical issues. Do you stand up for doctrinal clarity? Do you have a passion for others to know Jesus on a personal level? Does the authority of scripture matter to you? Are you concerned with how faith and politics intertwine? I know these are a lot of questions but they must be asked of ourselves. Because if we are not contending for the faith in these areas who will.
My challenge for you today is to find one area in your life that you can contend for the faith. I encourage you to make it in the area of evangelism. How can you wrestle with and fight to make sure people are hearing the gospel. This will require you to be proactive in your faith. It will also require you to know your faith.
If we are willing to fight for a raise or better opportunities for our children, we must be willing to contend for our faith. People need to know about Jesus. Our faith can’t just be a Sunday morning faith. When we start contending for the faith in small areas it will become easier when things are not as clear. For instance our faith does influence our politics. Neither party is perfectly correct, however, one party is in clear opposition of scripture. Contend for the faith even when it’s difficult.
Contend for the faith in your local church because that is the evangelism and training ground for our communities. The church must be a priority which means it must be lead biblically and passionately.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Revelation 1-3
