Ode To Joy

Whatever.

Sometimes that’s the answer we give when we’re asked a question.

Actually, let’s be more honest than that–we say “whatever” more often and often with more indifference than we should.

It’s as if we don’t want to enter into conflicts with people. We don’t want to deal with differing opinions. We want to feel comfortable about what we think and believe without having to stand up and defend our convictions earnestly. We want to be “nice” and “warm” and “friendly”, so we don’t bother to contend for what we truly believe because that would not be “kind”.

It’s not kind to be indifferent either.

It’s not loving to let people believe “whatever” they believe and live their own merry lives, all the while knowing that we have the truth and those people do not. It’s not kind to let people walk in darkness when we know the Light, because we’re afraid that someone might get upset and hate us.

It’s not right to have a “whatever” attitude when with what really matters in this life.

We’re called to be contenders for the faith(Jude 3). That does not mean we pick fights with people. That doesn’t mean we argue right and left. It means that we stand up for the truth, stand up for what’s right, and stand up for God, in the midst of the world we live in. We fight for the truth. We fight for the Lord. We fight for the hearts of men, women, and children, and win them for the Lord.  We are not called to be contentious, but we are called to make a stand and contend for the faith.

We do so out of love and concern. We contend for God’s and for man’s sake–for the One to be glorified, for the other to be saved.

Our defense, our answer for the hope that is within us(1 Peter 3:15-16) must be scripturally secure, logically reasoned, and shared to others with a heart of gentleness and love.

My dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ, I urge you to stand on the Word of God, ditch any traces of indifference you might have toward Christ and His gospel, and live, contending for the faith in all wisdom and love by the power of God. There is a lack of Godly men and women, boys and girls, in the world today, who contend unashamedly for the faith. Let us not be lukewarm Christians who believe, yet do not contend for what they believe.

Let us pray that the Lord would strengthen us in His might and power to not be indifferent Christians, but rather, that we would be found steadfast in the faith, giving glory to God, and preaching His Word unapologetically to the lost world.