One of the characteristics of those who have received salvation will be a willingness to be faithful in declaring, (as well as in obeying), God’s Word, as confirmed in Jude verse 3, where we read, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”
The word for “earnestly contend” is actually a compound Greek word that is only used in this verse, but the word for “contend” is translated as “striving” in Colossians 1:29, where we read, “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.”
The root word for “contend” is rendered as “fight” in 2 Timothy 4:7 and “race” in Hebrews 12:1.
We read in 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” And Hebrews 12:1 proclaims: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”
Listening friend, consider this question: Are we contending for the faith? May God grant us the grace to do so!
