Jude1:17-23- But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They
said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers
who will follow their own ungodly desires." These
are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have
the Spirit. But you, dear friends, build yourselves
up in your most holy faith and pray in
the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you
wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to
eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch
others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy,
mixed with fear--hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
The closer I get to the end of this great Bible…this book of
directions for living my life….the more urgent the warnings get to stay on the
alert for false teachings and the fake Christians Jude warns us about who
really don’t believe with their whole heart…they twist the words of the bible
to fit whatever they want to do. They
use the church as a conscience check…..sitting in the pews on Sunday…sleeping
with their eyes open during the sermon…..maybe lifting a selfish prayer or two…maybe
even singing in the choir…or teaching a class.
Their offerings are like Cain’s…left overs…tainted with the sin of
selfishness. They party and drink and live immoral lives…some even justify what
they do with verses from the bible…pulled out of context. I know….I have been there….and it was hard to
admit that I had become so lost in my own fake world that I believed…and
professed quite loudly to the world that I was right. Satan had tricked me so
fully that I lived this lie day after day…week after week…believing in my own
ignorance because I did not know the truth….didn’t even try to learn the truth.
The truth demanded that I change….that I admit I was wrong…that
I put behind me the lie that I had come to believe as the right way. Thanks be
to God that I was snatched away from Satan’s lies two long years ago….and I began
to study and uncover the sins in my own life. I did not know then that I was following Jude’s
advice…to know the truth…to study God’s word and apply it daily to my life. He also
says that we should pray in the spirit….in agreement with God’s laws and
teaching. The prayers we lift should ask
God to reveal his will…his big plan for us…how we can help snatch other people
out of the world of lies they have built for themselves. We must use God’s love…the
love that shows mercy…not judgment…but be careful…even fearful of getting to
close to their world of lies. And most of all we should wait…ever hopeful of
the day that he will return…and give us a new body to claim the eternal life
that he has promised.
Father…I thank you…thank you …and thank you …and even those shouts of
thankfulness don’t seem to cover just how thankful I am that you built a Church
like Souls’ Harbor…that at just the right broken moment of my life…you allowed
the precious saints in that church to show me mercy and love …and they
uncovered the hate…and fear…and selfishness that had allowed Satan to trap me
in a world of fakeness. Forgive me Lord….and help me to never listen to Satan’s
lies again. Give me a passion to study your great Bible… and really apply
everything it teaches to my life. Teach me how to pray in the Spirit Lord…to
listen to your voice and know with the certainty of Moses…and Paul…and Jesus…exactly
what your will for my life is. Teach me
how to stay in your love…so that it overflows from my heart…and everyone around
me may share it. I can wait for your
coming because of the mercy you show to me every day…and be sure of the hope I
have in your precious gift of life. Amen.
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