Today it seems like there are a million "causes." Save the whales, save the earth, "Just Say No," conservativism, and so on. While none of these in and of itself is wrong, it can endanger our soul's eternal life.

How? When we put more energy, time, thought, and devotion into them, than into the only true, righteous cause  the cause of Christ!

It is true that we, as Christians, are to teach, preach, defend, yea, even go on the offensive for what is right and true (Jude 3). But when one of the above mentioned becomes our focal point in life, it is sinful.

Some of you may have heard of Rush Limbaugh. He is a conservative radio and TV talk show host. He has many good comments, points and arguments for the "cause" of conservativism, as related to the American political system. I used to listen to him and enjoyed his candid comments. He gives insightful analysis into many important topics. It is sad, though, to see a Christian become more upset, energized, even on fire, at his show being taken off the air, than when confronted with false doctrine, attacked upon a religious point, or just simply urged to wield the sword of truth (Rev. 3:15). How sad, so sad.

I urge you to think about where your heart lies (Col. 3:2; 2 Cor. 13:5). How do you spend your "off " time (2 Tim. 2:15)? Do you get excited about humanism, multi-culturalism, abortion? Be-fore someone says, "What's wrong with getting excited about these issues? These are things we should fight against." I agree! We must stand for what is right (1 Thess. 5:21), but we must not let anyone of these be our purpose in life! We are "charged" to "preach the word" (2 Tim. 4:1,2), thus saving souls by presenting the word and letting it "prick them in their heart" (Acts 2:37). If we spent as much time studying God's word (Acts 17:11), refuting error (Gal. 2:11), and spreading the gospel (Rom. 1:16) in all its purity and simplicity, the rest of these problems would be taken care of, yea, maybe even extinguished!

We need to stand up and stop being slothful toward the true cause, stop misdirecting our energy and become a "living sacrifice" (Rom. 12:1,2) for Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. This must be done in order to "overcome" (Rev. 21:7,8).

Guardian of Truth XXXVIII: 11, p. 15
June 2, 1994