Spots

 I learned never to buy my girls anything white to wear the hard way. Whether it’s the dead of winter or the start of fall, if, perchance, I buy them a white dress and they wear it, it is on that day that they exhibit an existential need for ice cream. Not just any ice cream, but chocolate ice cream, not in a cup that can be controlled somewhat, but in a cone that gets soggy and messy and eventually drips all over those white dresses.

It is inevitable. Like the sun rising every morning and the flowers blooming every spring, if my girls are wearing white, they’ll want something that will have a high probability of staining whatever they’re wearing.

It’s not hard to spot a spot, depending on the background. If you’re wearing white, whether it’s mustard, ketchup, or chocolate ice cream, one drop is all it takes for your eyes to go right to it, focus on it, and notice it from a mile away. If you’re wearing darker colors, whether brown, black, or even blue, to some extent, you might get away with an ice cream stain or five, and no one would be the wiser.

Jude 12-13, “These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”

I’ve been wrestling with a question for the past few days, namely, why it was that these spots are able to feast with the people of God without fear. As I said, any imperfection, smudge, or spot on a white background is easily identified and singled out. Could it be that they feast without fear because the background isn’t white? Could it be that they feast without fear because a winning smile and some exalting words easily beguile those with whom they surround themselves?

How much is the average modern-day Christian willing to overlook to have their ego stroked and their compromise justified? Perhaps these spots at our love feasts feast without fear because they know that we know what they are, but we don’t much care as long as they tickle our ears and make us feel good about ourselves.

They serve a purpose, and the purpose is to make men comfortable in their rebellion and disobedience. Make me feel at ease in my sin, and I’ll gladly throw you a few shekels.

One thing about these spots is that they never set out to serve God but only themselves. If you’re wondering who benefits, it’s always them, every time without fail. It is their defining characteristic and something that will stand out no matter how much they might try to hide it. Granted, nobody tries to hide it anymore. Rather they flaunt it and encourage others to aspire to it, drawing their time, energy, and focus away from pursuing holiness and the deeper things of God.

I happened upon a short YouTube video the other day where a guy with a microphone and camera asked random people whether they would rather have a hundred-dollar bill or one bitcoin. It’s a simple premise, to be sure, but one with the potential for hilarity ensuing, as a young man and his girlfriend began arguing as she would have preferred the hundred-dollar bill and he the bitcoin. Exasperated, the young man finally looks at his girlfriend and asks her if she even knows what a bitcoin is worth, to which she shrugs her shoulders noncommittally.

That’s how Christians should react when offered a choice between earthly riches and spiritual riches. Spiritual gifts and the things of God are so superior in value to worldly things that it’s a no-brainer. It goes without saying that you should choose the things of God each time, every time, without equivocation, yet it’s the earthly things we are encouraged to desire, aspire to, and want by those who are supposed to be leaders of men when it comes to the spiritual.

Why is it that men who are supposed to be representatives of the kingdom to come spend so much time focusing on the kingdom that is? Why, if we are heaven-bound creatures, are those tasked with pointing the way to heaven so enamored with the things of this earth? It’s another one of those paradoxes there is no answer for unless you allow for the possibility that they really aren’t what they pretend to be, and their hearts are tethered to the here and now rather than the hereafter.

The Word warns of such individuals not because they appeared among the brethren infrequently or once in a great while but because they were a recurring problem, so much so that it needed to be addressed. If only Jude brought up the existence of those who creep in, attempting to seduce the household of faith, it would be one thing. Still, both Paul and Peter echo Jude’s concerns, and even Christ Himself warns of false teachers and prophets that will rise in the last days.

The warning signs abound, but the question remains whether we will heed them or not. Even though people are warned not to touch live wires, some still do. They chose to disregard the warning and suffer the consequences thereof.  

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.