Jude 3-4

³ 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. ⁴ For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.

To ‘contend for the faith’ is very different to just having faith.  It’s easy in life to avoid conversations that might offend someone, but this passage calls to us to speak the truth about who Jesus is and what he means to us.  It’s easy to sit back and think we’re an innocent bystander, but verse 4 says that there are ungodly people amongst us, perverting the grace of our God and denying Jesus as Lord.  Whilst most people in our society don’t tend do these things as obviously as they may have done in the times this passage was written, they still do them.  And in some ways, their subtlety is more dangerous, because it can suck us in or make us feel guilty if we disagree. 

Take some time to notice the opportunities you have today to contend for the faith – to speak into the lies this world spreads about who Jesus is.  Ask God for courage to speak up, to stand up for Him, but to do so with grace and humility. 

Janet Sutton