Jude 1
A Call to Remain Faithful
17 But you, my delightfully loved friends, remember the prophecies of the apostles of our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One. 18 They taught you, “In the last days there will always be mockers, motivated by their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people cause divisions and are followers of their own natural instincts, devoid of the life of the Spirit.
20 But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. 21 Fasten your hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life.
I remember as a young child going through a season of being obsessed with eating carrots. Not because I liked them but because of what I thought they would do to me. I cannot remember who it was, but I recall a well-meaning adult telling me I would turn orange if I ate enough carrots. For them I’m sure it was a harmless attempt to get me to eat some vegetables I otherwise routinely turned down. For a curious whipper snapper like myself, it was a golden (or an orange) opportunity to turn neon orange like a carrot. It gave new life to the phrase “you are what you eat”. I ate them at every opportunity for weeks, constantly crunching beta-carotene and checking the mirror to see if there would be a new tint of color emerging from my skin. Eventually it dawned on me that this was not how it worked. I gave up on changing my skin tone and settled with the discovery carrots were not that bad.
Fast forward a few decades and I still like carrots. Turns out I developed a taste for them that has stuck with me and a bonus, they are good for me to eat! Evidently forcing my will to focus on one thing developed a habit that lasted a lifetime… It’s the same in our spiritual walk. No you wont turn orange from reading your bible and spending time in prayer. Even better. You radiate heaven!
Jude understood a very basic and important kingdom truth, you become what you consume. There will never be a time in human history where wickedness will not roam the earth. The difference between this age and others is that we have immediate access to information. This is a great blessing and a curse. While being aware is important, being captivated can be a trap. Especially if your captivation is not pointed in the right direction. Eventually the information we place our focus on consumes us. This is a good thing if we are Jesus oriented. If we are focused on anything else, it is a slope that leads to self-destruction. So, how do you know if your focus is in the right place. As Jude writes, it's vital that you are developing the practice of praying in the spirit and engaging the presence of God through word and worship. It is wise to be mindful of current events happening in our country. It's foolish to be focused on them. I promise you God is aware of the plans of man, but they do not stand in the way of his plans. In fact, the scriptures say that he uses them to fulfill his purposes. If that’s the case, then world events should be acting as prompting for church people to engage heaven in prayer. Instead many of us (myself included) are becoming an echo chamber for the earth’s crisis.
One of the primary ways the enemy keeps us from our purpose of becoming like Jesus is keeping us distracted and consumed with the affairs of the world. This is a battle we all fight. Division, fear, and chaos are running rampant in the earth right now, and the Father is calling his children into a better focus. Let’s stay consumed and constantly consuming what really matters, the King and his Kingdom. Because you are what you eat.
Love,
Pastor John