The Divine Curveball

When I played baseball as a kid, I enjoyed batting practice.  That was the most fun part of training that never lasted as long as I wanted.  Sometimes we went to batting cages where the ball was spit out from a machine at a preset speed.  While batting in the cages was good to improve hand-eye coordination, balance and bat control, there were several drawbacks.  It wasn't long before a batter began to suffer fatigue and potentially develop bad habits (as well as blisters!).  The worst drawback is the repetition of the same pitch, pace and location caused batters to anticipate it.  Unlike a machine, a pitcher who knows you are looking fastball will throw a curveball or changeup, some off-speed pitch to throw off the timing of the batter.  Unless the batter is able to quickly recognise the pitch and adjust accordingly, he is an easy out.

I believe the Bible is full of "curveballs," unexpected spiritual truths and applications the natural or carnal man will always miss.  If we carefully observe the flow of a passage and consider what we might do, say or conclude in a given circumstance, the Bible is full of surprises.  God's intention in doing this is not to mislead or confuse us but to show us how totally different His ways and thoughts are from ours.  Isaiah 55:6-9 says, "Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. ⁸ "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. ⁹ "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."  God doesn't want us just to obligatory nod our heads in agreement but to personally apply His truth to our lives so our ways will be patterned after His.

A recent study of the book of Jude was a perfect illustration of this for me.  In this brief epistle, Jude wrote to believers to earnestly contend for the faith because many had crept into the church unnoticed who used God's grace as an excuse to sin and denied Jesus Christ.  The body of the letter is filled with warnings about the dangers of apostasy, the coming judgment against them, and he used murderous Cain, greedy Balaam and power-hungry Korah as examples to avoid.  Then Jude switched his focus to address sin that was not ancient history or "out there somewhere" but was present in their love feasts and fellowship.  He reminded his readers that apostles had warned in the last days there would be murmurers, complainers, and flatterers who walked according to their own lusts and did not even have the Holy Spirit in them.

Now after hearing this, what would be a natural conclusion?  Perhaps to become suspicious of others in our fellowship or the church in general; to bring this ugly truth into the open to confront others for their guilt; to ferret these ungodly people out of the shadows and excommunicate them to rid ourselves of the evil.  And this is exactly when Jude twirls up that curveball in Jude 1:20-23:  "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. ²² And on some have compassion, making a distinction; ²³ but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh."  The implication of what Jude says is, "That wicked person can be you."  Jude was not asking people to go on a "witch hunt" to purge a fellowship of dubious members but to build themselves up on their faith, praying in the Spirit, keeping themselves in the love of God, look for the mercy of Jesus, show compassion and do what they can to save others from destruction.  The application is a personal one, not the censure or judgment of others.

The purity and uprightness of the church  does not rest on the vigilance of the members, though we are called to righteousness, holiness, faith and love.  The strength of the Body is increased, not by the removal of sinners, but when Christians build themselves up in faith and keep themselves in the love of God.  For those who are concerned of the lamentable condition of the church, look to yourselves and to the LORD and repent of your sin so you do not become a Cain, Balaam or Korah under judgment.  Jude 1:24-25 is a perfect conclusion that extols the omniscient supremacy of God:  "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, ²⁵ to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen."  That's a curveball we should rejoice in and smash out of the park by faith in Jesus.