You can’t follow Jesus while rejecting what Jesus affirmed. Dr. Michael Youssef warns against a “pick-and-choose” Christianity and calls believers to contend for the unchanging faith once for all delivered to the saints.
Some voices today try to make Christianity “easier” by removing whatever feels uncomfortable—reducing the faith to a few agreeable points and ignoring the rest. In this episode of the MY Devotional Podcast, Dr. Michael Youssef explains why that approach doesn’t produce stronger believers—it produces weaker ones.
Jesus Himself affirmed the Old Testament, including accounts like Noah and Jonah (Matthew 24:37; Matthew 12:40). That means we cannot claim to believe in Jesus while dismissing what He declared to be true. Scripture isn’t a buffet. If the Bible records Christ’s virgin birth, His miracles, His cross, and His resurrection, we don’t get to select the parts we prefer and discard the rest.
Dr. Youssef then turns to Jude, who urged Christians to “contend for the faith” (Jude 1:3). Truth does not shift with the times—and when we forget the magnitude of God’s grace toward us, our faith grows thin and our witness loses strength. But when we hold fast to the Gospel, we submit to Christ fully, trust every Word He affirmed, and stand firm—even in a culture that pressures compromise.
Prayer: Father, help me cling firmly to Your Gospel and trust and obey Your Word—contending for Truth. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, . . .” (Jude 1:1).
Learn more in Dr. Michael A. Youssef’s sermon series Truth: The Most Endangered Species: LISTEN NOW