Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
Do you like to fight battles? Or do you like to run away from them? I've met many wonderful Christian people, members of the church, who want peace so much that they refuse to get down in the arena where battles for the Lord must be fought. To tell the truth, they'd rather watch TV than study for themselves to know the truth about the issues in the great controversy between Christ and Satan.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith," and Jude says (vss. 3, 4) that we should "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints," for there are "certain men [who] have crept in unnoticed" who seek to corrupt that faith. And Jesus tells us quite clearly, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to 'set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.' And 'a man's foes will be those of his own household'" (Matt. 10:34-36).
Is this what it means to follow Christ?
"But," says someone, "surely this doesn't apply to conflicts within the church! The world is full of controversy; I go to church so I can find a place of rest and peace!" Well, Revelation 12:17 says that the dragon, the devil, in these last days, is "enraged" with the true church, and has gone to make war with the remnant church, where his most fearful strategy is to make war within the church against the pure, true gospel of Jesus. If Satan can corrupt that, he hopes yet to win the war against Christ.
So Peter's advice is exactly what we need today: "Be sober, be vigilant. ... Resist him, steadfast in the faith" (1 Peter 5:8, 9). But please be sure that you have your wits about you; that word "sober" means to think carefully lest you end up "resisting" the true work of the Holy Spirit! If you do that, you've crossed that line beyond which repentance is impossible.
The stakes in the great controversy are high; the only place where you can avoid the battle is the grave. And please don't choose to go there! Get on your knees; study; learn; stay awake; "watch"; and stand "for the right though the heavens fall," says one wise writer.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: November 10, 1997.
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