Holding the Line

An Emoji Devotions for Mon, 9th Aug, 2021

Topic: Holding the Line

By H.U. Wenger

Highlights: Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people. (Jude 1 : 3)

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people. (2. Timothy 3:1 – 5)

The topic of today is an unpleasant one because we normally love peace and quiet. Here we are called to contend for the faith that has been given unto us. Jude and Peter make both very clear that the Christian Community of the end times will be infiltrated by deceptive teachers who will somehow change the gospel and make it more suitable for the human flesh. Truth and deception will get craftily intertwined and the whole focus of the gospel will get shifted away from the glory of God to God’s longing for mankind. The totally depraved and fallen human beings who desperately need God’s salvation, his grace and mercy mutate to little gods. They can now be taught how to use their own inherent powers to live a prosperous and healthy life. 

It is not the place and not my task to expose the different false teachings around the world. My intension is only to call all of us as followers of Christ to pay attention to the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people according to Jude. Brothers and Sisters let us go back to the scriptures. Here we find the line, we are to hold. During my theological studies, there was a big emphasis on sound teaching. The drawbacks of it were legalistic tendencies that sometimes lead to very harsh and unjustified judgments. 

It got forgotten that for now we know in part and that a Christian has to be gentle and loving. Nevertheless it is my conviction that we should return to the habit of the Berean Jews from whom we read in Acts 17, 11: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Let us again examine the scriptures and not blindly follow teachers. It will help us to hold the line. We live in a time of exposure. We see it in the events that happen in the United States and elsewhere. 

We already know that Christian Churches have been involved in human trafficking and in other activities that are opposed to the biblical teaching. When more of this will be exposed, it may well lead to an onslaught on all churches and on the Gospel. Most likely there will not only truth be exposed, but the demonic realm will as well spread lies, and we will have to hold the line by contending and fighting for the faith according to the scriptures.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank you that you have saved me from the dominion of Satan and that I can now live a new life under your rule. I pray that you protect me from deception. Let me daily examine the scriptures and keep me close to you and your sound doctrine. In your holy name, I pray. Amen