josh whitehead

I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. For certain men have crept in unnoticed…. Jude 3b-4a (NKJV)

It hit me this morning – at one point we fought against those who had “crept in unnoticed” – people who were destroying the Faith, who were leading people away from Christ. But at some point, our focus changed. Our focus became to make everyone think like us in matters that have always been and will always be divisive. Instead of unifying on issues surrounding our common beliefs in Christ as the only way to God for salvation, we get caught up in arguing about the end times, versions of the Bible or Calvinism. (Here is a pretty complete LIST of things that we should unite behind.)

At the same time more men walk in unnoticed and lead people away from Him, and we are completely unaware of it because we are often fighting battles that have no eternal significance but promote our points and thought processes. It’s okay to disagree and have a different perspective on non-essential things, but our tendency is to allow that to become the primary driving force in our lives. Yet, in the finite our minds truly cannot completely understand the infinite. Isaiah said:

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (55:8-9, NIV)

I’m praying for eyes to see those who are creeping in, even though I struggle because I want to fight for things that really matter more to me personally than to the Kingdom as a whole.