February 13, 2019 ONCE FOR ALL DELIVERED
Jude 1:3: “Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.”
There is a tendency for us to seek, or strive for something we think we lack, yet, we already have what we are seeking. We may think that if we put forth more effort, if we read and memorize more scripture, if-if-if, we will be better Christians. As believers, we have been given a package deal; a package that is complete with everything we need to live life just as God intended. The gospel is a done deal! It has been delivered! Our part is to discover the wonderful truths that are contained in the gospel-the gospel that “was once delivered to the saints.” Receiving the gospel may be compared to receiving a large gift box, and as we unwrap it and open it up, we find more gifts inside; like so, in the gospel that we have received, there are truths to be ‘unwrapped’ – the gospel is in our possession. Rather than striving to find or be something that we think we lack, we should be about discovering and celebrating our new identity in Christ. Realizing experientially that we have been made new, and not merely refurbished, seems to be a major hurdle for many professing believers. We can and should now live out of our newness-not who we use to be. I am reminded of the story of the Japanese soldiers, held out high in the mountains that remained in a war mode for a long time, even though the war was over-they did not get the word that the war was over. Today, there are believers who are still fighting the ‘self-effort’ war; they have not gotten the word that the war is over, and that the ‘old man’, our old self, has been defeated. Let us not misunderstand, as in the verse above, we must “contend earnestly for the faith which was once for delivered to the saints.” We must guard against any teaching or thinking that diminishes the truth of the gospel; we have to be aware of the fact that human nature is such that it wants to put responsibility for change on man, rather than simply receiving the truth that it is God who changes us from the inside out. As believers, we are not destined to spend a lifetime searching for ‘the abundant life’ that Jesus promised, but are to receive, or enter into all that comes as a result of being a member of God’s family. The fact that we have received the gospel and can now experience life to the fullest, does not mean that we will not face trials; however, the gospel brings with it the power and the strength to be overcomers in the trials and God causes the trials to work for our good.
Psalms 16:11: “You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
Colossians 2:10: “And ye are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”
Blessings,
Buddy
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