You know, the Bible shows us as Believers in Christ that we should be striving for the mastery of our lives, because if we do not, then the world, the flesh, and the Devil more than willingly does the job for us. As old as time itself, sin has always sought to master the human heart. For example Genesis chapter 4 gives the account of Cain and Abel and how God felt about the good sacrifice that Abel brought, and the bad sacrifice that Cain brought.

In His mercy, God gave Cain a chance to repent and to return with the proper sacrifice. In verse 7, God says, “You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.” Sin was waiting to master Cain, and because Cain wasn’t interested in mastering himself (i.e. doing God’s will), sin took over and caused him to kill his innocent brother Abel.

The apostle Paul said that he disciplined his body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. He kept focused on what he was fighting for so that he wouldn’t be preaching hypocritically, and end up being disqualified from ministry or losing eternal rewards. Self-mastery is a popular topic in the world, but much of it is absent the saving message of the gospel of Christ. So it is good for time, but not for eternity. Recognizing Christ as Master is the most important realization anyone can come to. And such mastery is not only critical to the Christian, it is also equally critical to the local Church.

Jude is the next to last book of the Bible. It is just one chapter long and only contains 25 verses. But it offers abundant insights into something that is becoming increasingly neglected in the local church. You see, earnestly contending for the faith is being replaced with earnestly contending for personal preference, political party, social justice, and other cultural issues. It seems that the exclusivity of Christ and the culture that is His heavenly kingdom is being set aside for unbiblical inclusiveness, which only leads to divisiveness.

But we shouldn’t be surprised. The perfect word of God tells us that before Christ returns to rapture His Church, there must first be a great falling away. And it certainly looks like that falling away is underway even as we speak. How long do we have before Christ returns? I don’t know. But will the answer to that question even matter one second after He does?

The first three verses of Jude read as follows…