Standing Strong for One Another!
We are living in a time when it is becoming increasingly difficult to live the Christian life without offending someone or provoking negative responses out of people round about us. It seems like almost overnight our nation went from accepting the freedom we all have to speak our minds whether it be offensive or not to everyone being offended by every remark anyone made.
Jude addressed times like these when he wrote these words: “In the end time there will be scoffers walking according to their own ungodly desires. These people create divisions and are merely natural, not having the Spirit. But you, dear friends, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, expecting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life” (Jude 1:18-21). We have come to that point in time where the ungodly have risen to that place where they are granted the rights of society as well as the head-nod of our government to scoff at and ridicule the words of the believer.
Certainly we are seeing the divisions created by this activity as those who are not fully committed to their Christian walk or are simply weak in the faith are bowing under to the negative rhetoric of the ungodly and unspiritual. We see them walking away from the faith in order to break the cycle of the scoffers.
But Jude has a word from the Lord for us, Church! He instructs us to be built up in the most holy faith, to pray in the Holy Spirit, to keep ourselves grounded in the love of GOD, and to continue living in earnest expectation of the coming of Christ. This word is both to the individual and to the Church universal. When we, as the Church, see a fellow believer coming under criticism or mockery, we have a responsibility to build this person up, not to tear them down. I see so many today who would rather tell the fellow believer to quite down or back down rather than stepping up next to that individual and taking their hand and standing with them.
Church, we must recognize our responsibility to one another in Christ Jesus—that is to build them up in word, hold them up with our strength and join them in standing up for Jesus Christ and His mission for us today.
Preacher Danny's Truth for Today 