“Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.” Jude 1:3
Jude is a powerful little book, written by the half-brother of Jesus. In his epistle, he shares the dangers of apostasy (falling away from the Lord) and the coming judgment of God. It is definitely not a “feel-good message.” At first, he wanted to share an encouraging, uplifting word about the wonderful salvation the Lord has provided, but God put another message on his heart. Rather than getting to share the sweet comforting sound of God’s salvation plan, he was led to share the shrilling sound of an alarm because a clear warning was desperately needed by those to whom he was writing.
As a pastor who prepares messages on a weekly basis, I can certainly relate to Jude. So often I’ve sat down to write out a sermon or midweek thoughts, such as these, that would be more comforting and encouraging to those I’ll be sharing with, but I end up sounding an alarm and warning people to get right with the Lord while there is still time. What can I say? It is the message that continues to resonate in my heart during these days in which we’re living.
A LESSON FROM THE TITANIC.
Most people know about the tragic historical events of the “unsinkable ship” known as Titanic. That massive ship, the largest passenger liner ever built at the time, was undoubtedly the greatest of all ships ever built to plow through the oceans. It was April 10, 1912, the great Titanic left the port in Southampton, UK for her first voyage to New York City. Although she would be navigating through the iceberg-infested waters of the chilling Atlantic, she was traveling at top speed in order to set a record and make headlines.
It’s recorded that the great Titanic was warned repeatedly of icebergs directly in her path, but she blew off every warning. When the final warning came, about two hours before the crash, radio operator Jack Phillips aboard the ship angrily responded to that important iceberg message with these words, “Shut up, shut up! I’m busy!”
Disaster struck at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, and the unsinkable ship went down inside of three hours. Over 1500 people lost their lives simply because pride and arrogance overran common sense. Warnings which should have been welcomed and heeded were dismissed as a nuisance and a bother. Looking back, it is hard to fathom the utter foolishness and recklessness of the captain and crew. Without question, stupidity has no bounds when a person is deceived and blinded by their pride.
About a year ago, I watched the movie about the Titanic for the first time. That movie reminded me of our nation and people all around us today. I believe our society is acting much like the captain and crew of Titanic. There are millions of people who are arrogantly and foolishly disregarding every warning from God. One pastor put it this way, “America is strutting her way to hell, thinking she is too good to be damned.” How deceived can a people be?
GOD’S PEOPLE CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE!
So what do we do? We humble our hearts, heed His warnings, and get right with God. We turn from our wicked ways and embrace the Lord’s Word and ways for our lives. The time is now for Christians to get off the fence of compromise and get serious about walking with God. The time is now for believers to shine for Christ in this dark and dying world.
We need some folks who, like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who didn’t bend or bow to the pressure. We need some Daniels who will stand up for truth and do what is right, regardless of the circumstances or the consequences. It is the Daniels who make the difference… and God is calling you and me to be Daniels in the evil age in which we live.
Will you stand up for what is right? Will you speak the truth in love? Will you sound the alarm and pray for God to open ears and hearts to the warnings? As this little phrase so pointedly says, “Life is short, death is sure. Sin, the cause, Christ, the cure.” Let’s follow the example of John the Baptist and be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” (Mark 1:3) in each of our circles of influence.
Think it over!
Written by Doug Pierce
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Christian Grandfather Magazine
Featured Image by Ivana Tomášková from Pixabay
