Although some Christians rely too heavily on aphorisms to shape their thinking (“God will never load us with burdens too heavy to bear,” etc.), it’s important to remember that aphorisms can often succinctly affix a truth to our mind and heart. Recall the book of Proverbs consists almost entirely of aphorisms. Short, pungent, truthful points can mold our lives.
One aphorism I’ve never forgotten and which consistently shapes my thinking and life I first heard from the pastor of the Christian school I attended in the mid- late 70s. He was a strong, crusading man of God, now deceased. He once wrote this: You cannot preserve a position without crusading for it. He was combating the widespread idea that some biblical doctrines and practices are so obvious that they can be taken for granted. He countered that this approach might sustain taken-for-granted truth in a single generation, but that truth will not survive into succeeding generations. Our spiritual heirs will eject what we do not emphasize.
The Bible teaches this truth. In his epistle Jude writes (v. 3):
Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
The word “contend” includes the idea of “being a combatant” — crusading, we could even say. We sometimes hear the pious observation, “The Faith and the Bible need no defense,” but saints throughout both the OT and NT — and our Lord, too — didn’t seem to feel that way. They combatted evil both inside and outside the church. Apparently, the truth requires not just affirmation and acceptance but also crusades in order to be preserved.
