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More Warnings
17My dear friends, remember the warning you were given by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They told you that near the end of time, selfish and godless people would start making fun of God. 19And now these people are already making you turn against each other. They think only about this life, and they don't have God's Spirit.
20Dear friends, keep building on the foundation of your most holy faith, as the Holy Spirit helps you to pray. 21And keep in step with God's love, as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to show how kind he is by giving you eternal life. 22Be helpful to all who may have doubts. 23Rescue any who need to be saved, as you would rescue someone from a fire. Then with fear in your own hearts, have mercy on everyone who needs it. But hate even the clothes of those who have been made dirty by their filthy deeds.
Final Prayer
24-25Offer praise to God our Savior because of our Lord Jesus Christ! Only God can keep you from falling and make you pure and joyful in his glorious presence. Before time began and now and forever, God is worthy of glory, honor, power, and authority. Amen.
Reflect
Pressure can be debilitating. It can cause us to shrink back, diminish our convictions, or shy away from difficult people. And yet, as followers of Jesus, we should expect it, especially from those who appear to disagree with us.
As Jude’s letter concludes, he continues to remind us to stay aware of people who will try to undermine the truth of our Christian faith (17-19). However, it’s not just about them. It is also about others. And remarkably our loving, Christ-like response to them. Jude is thinking of those who doubt, people who need rescue, and the ones who desperately need to experience the kindness and mercy of God (22-23). We have a chance pastorally to be the hands and feet of Jesus to them.
Yet, it’s not just about them, is it? It’s also about us. Jude seems to understand the importance of self-care when experiencing pressure. Wisely, he directs us to live and pray fully according to the Holy Spirit (20). This is key if we are going to love others and exhibit God’s kindness to them, instead of foolishly thinking we can somehow do this in our own strength. The truth is we need to depend completely on the Holy Spirit and expect him to guide us.
But who is God, the One we are to listen to and depend on? Jude ends his letter where he started. He celebrates and magnifies Jesus’ incomprehensible majesty! It’s through praising God that the pressure we face and the faith we believe meet each other. As followers of Jesus, no matter where we find ourselves today, God doesn’t want us to shrink back, diminish our convictions, or shy away from difficult people. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we can remain lovingly resolute in our faith despite the pressure we feel from others by celebrating the majesty of God!
Respond
Living God, I look to you today. Like the psalmist declared in Psalm 121:2, my heart echoes, “My help comes from the Maker of heaven and earth” (NIV). I have felt a lot of pressure lately. Holy Spirit, relieve it and show me how to respond in your love and kindness and compassion to myself and those around me.
Meg Saunders
Meg has a passion to see men and women mature in Christ through reconciled, healed relationships. Recently, she launched The Crossing Ministries, www.thecrossingministries.com to invite others to think about who they are, who God is, and how the relationships in their lives can be reconciled and healed. Before ordination to the priesthood, she had a unique career on Capitol Hill, concluding with Dr. Lloyd Ogilvie and RADM Dr. Barry Black in the US Senate Chaplain’s Office. She also worked collaboratively with Dr. Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health, producing: Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith. Currently, she’s working on a new book called: The Risk of Ordinary Suffering: When We are Ready to Give up on God.