Jude 3 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 handed down to the saints. “Contend earnestly for the faith”; to contend is to compete. This is an pecular phrasing. Great lengths are gone to in explaining the free gift of salvation. One need only ask and the gift is theirs. Paul uses his brilliant reasoning in Romans to explain how this amaaing gift works. The book of Acts speaks of the judaizers. These were individual who tried to bring in parts of the law with the christian faith. This added works to the free gift. Why do we have to contend for the faith? First off, we aren’t competing with others. There are plenty of distractions that attempt to stear us away from Christ. Proverbs goes to great lengths to warn of the dangers of immorality. There is an implied magnetism with “the adulterous woman” mentioned there. But the young man is warned not to even take the street that passes her house. Avoid the neighborhood. This is part of what it means to contend for the faith. When we receive Christ, we yield to His lordship. We are to follow His ways. The previous paragraph spoke of moral purity. We are also to be loving, not envious, not gossips, to be grateful, and more. Because we have His Spirit and a new nature, we want to do all those things. But we have our flesh with selfish, competing desires, the devil with his temptations and the world with it’s disapproval of faith and it’s ways. Therein lies the struggle. It’s like a competition. I’ve heard it said, “a dead salmon goes with the current, it takes a live one to go upstream.” It’s in the salmon’s nature to fight the current. It wants to do it. It wants to carry on it’s family, by laying eggs. We also have our new desires in Christ. We want to do His will. It brings us joy. However, there is some struggle. We do have some resistance within and without. God will help us. That’s the beauty. Matthew 11:29 says, “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.” The yoke implies work, but it’s described as easy and light. It’s not like this competition is so tough that few make it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 says, “No temptationc has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be temptedd beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” It will be manageable. Lord, thank You that You put some struggle in faith. Like an oyster turns it into a pearl, You use it for beautiful things. Helps us to lean on You.