A Look at the Epistle of Jude

“This letter is from Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ.May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love.” – Jude 1-3 New Living Translation

                  Being a slave in the traditional sense is to be in “involuntary servitude”. Being a slave in a Christian setting is to be in VOLUNTARY servitude.  Believers in Christ willingly follow God’s lead in all areas of their life, or at least that’s the way it’s supposed to be. Some translations use the word “bondservant”, which is defined as “a person obligated to serve without wages”. While we don’t get paid monetarily, there HAS been a payment made on our behalf.; that being the life of Christ in exchange for ours. His blood shed instead of ours. All the sins of man washed clean; forgiven forever and all time. Our servitude should be driven by a desire to please God. We are to let God live thru us as a way of thanking him for doing that which we could not do for ourselves.

            Jude starts his letter off by pinpointing his audience … those who have been called by God. Bible experts tell us his audience were those Jewish individuals who had accepted Jesus Christ as the Messiah. He then shares a statement that tells the reader two of the benefits of loving and serving the Lord: 1) God loves us all.  As a matter of fact scripture says he loved us before we even knew him. (“We love because he loved us first.”– 1 John 4:19) His love is unconditional. His love is intimate & deeply personal, so much so that he knows all about us and STILL loves us without any reservations.  2) God keeps us safe from our enemies. Whatever happens in this life is either caused or allowed by Almighty God for his own purposes. If it were not so then God would then not be in control of all things and therefore cease to be who he says he is.

            Jude then offers his readers a prayer-like statement: “May God give you … “. It is important for us to understand that material possessions come second to that which money cannot buy, that being “mercy, peace & love”. These are characteristics of each member of the Trinity and need to be practiced by us as well. Until next time, walk with the King and be a blessing. rlkeller

^{Resources: The American Heritage Dictionary & The Life Application Study Bible.}