Dear Friends, I’ve dropped everything to write you
about this life of salvation we have in common. I have to write
insisting—begging!—that you fight with everything you have in you for this
faith entrusted to us as a gift to guard and cherish.
Jude 3 (MSG)
Come
back with me in time ladies, back to AD65, back to the desk of Jude. See his furrowed
brow. Sense the burden on his heart, the urgency of this, his letter to Jewish
Christians everywhere. A mere thirty years have passed since Jesus’ death on
the cross, since Jude caught a firm hold on the divinity of his half-brother
Jesus. Jude begs!
And
why? What prompts Jude’s letter? It is apparent the godless abound, who change the grace of our God into a license
for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord (Jude 4).
Focus
in on Jude’s colorful descriptors: These
men are blemishes at your love feasts…shepherds who feed only themselves…clouds
without rain…autumn trees without fruit…wild waves of the sea…wandering stars
(Jude 12-13). The fight for the faith has begun. With everything in them these
new believers are challenged to both guard, and cherish, Jesus’ gift of life.
Whew—that
was then. But wait a minute—that is now. The religion of the god of this world
is percolating once again to the surface. Thankfully our parents, and their
parents before them, followed the God of their fathers. Sadly, Jude’s words
could have been written today: “There
will be people who don’t take these things seriously anymore. They’ll treat
them like a joke, and make a religion of their own whims and desires” (Jude
18 MSG). In fact, they follow mere
natural instincts and do not have the Spirit (19).
The
crest of the clan Montgomery, my family of origin, hangs inside my front door.
Look carefully at the motto: Garde Bien,
translated to watch well. Take
another look at the rather gruesome image of a maiden resting her right hand on
an anchor, the severed head of her enemy held high in her left. We Scots take our
heritage seriously.
As
we Christians should. The head of the enemy has been severed. The life of
salvation which we have in common is firmly anchored in Jesus. But it is up to us
to guard and cherish our faith ladies. Watch
well!
Nancy P
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