Day 21. Jude.

As a young man, I was fairly high strung. As one of my friends says of his own family, I was often right, but NEVER in doubt. Frankly, my arrogance and pride was in some areas a thing of disgusting legend.

But I had nothing on the rampant pride of the people Jude addresses in this short letter. Sometimes the best way to identify and label someone is to compare them to things already known. That's exactly what Jude did.

Jude trickles through several stories he expected his readers to be very familiar with. He points back to Numbers 13-14 when the Israelites refused to trust God after the Exodus. Genesis 19 gave us the chronicles of Sodom and Gomorrah and how the judging hand of God left his mark on the entire city. Balaam looked for personal gain while skirting the edges of outright rebellion (sound familiar) and Korah openly defied the authority of God.

Jude's story of Michael disputing over the body of Moses and the story of Enoch's prophecy both come from extra-biblical sources (Assumption of Moses and 1 Enoch) but he isn't worried about that! They may not be canon, but they do tell the stories of the time, stories the readers would have known all to well, and the lesson is the same; God isn't playing around with proud rebellion dressed up as spirituality ... that's what Jude is trying to tell those who've made there way into the church.

These folks were so arrogant and flippant, they even spoke recklessly about the "glorious ones" or the spiritual beings in the rebellion of Genesis 6 when they "went into the daughters of men" and had offspring. Not even the archangel Michael dared that audacity. He called on the Lord to do the rebuking. Yet, these swindlers, and many today, pompously walk around speaking loud and proud into things they don't understand and have no business toying with.

But Jude doesn't leave us holding the hopeless bag, so to speak. He reminds us God's grace isn't permission to drift and slide towards rebellion, but it's power to endure in faithfulness.

We are drenched in a culture which wards loud outrage and confrontational rebellion as wisdom, but Jude pulls no punches identifying what it really is: Pride dressed up for a show.

So how does one surrounded by such foolishness guard their heart? How do WE guard ours? Verses 20-21 give insight. We must build ourselves up in our faith, pray, focus on God's love, and wait. Wait for the mercy of Jesus to prevail. One scholar wrote, "this is hope aimed forward, not fear aimed backwards."

Finally, he turns our hearts outward to help others while we wait. First, we are to show mercy to those who have wavered. Like my post the other day about Kirk Cameron's new stance on Hell, or the lack thereof. So many were quick to jump on the "heretic" wagon it amazes me! If he truly has wavered and isn't merely asking questions, then our job would be to have mercy, not condemnation. (v. 22) All while keeping our own eyes open to the possibility that for the grace of God, we are right there with him!

We so easily fall into this trap of self-exalting pride and arrogance. May we ask the Lord today to keep our hearts and minds fixed on Him and Him alone.

I have really enjoyed this short 21-day challenge with you! I hope you will join us for "Al Things New" a 52-week journey through the story of redemption!