Monday 19 Feb 2018

February 19: Jude 1:1-4

Key Verse: Jude 1:3
Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt compelled to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.

Devotion:
The whole basis of this letter is summed up in the first few verses – watch out, evil is about. Jude's letter was written to specifically remind all saints in Christ that we do tend to follow earthly ways and very quickly lose sight of God and His ways! As you can see, it is not just a problem for us nowadays, but something that has been going on even in the days following Christ's time on earth. Jude was going to write a doctrinal work on salvation but instead writes of his grave concerns for the way we conduct our Christian lives.

All of us are guilty of allowing things into our lives which are not Christian. We all follow our human nature at some stage in our lives and that is exactly what we have to remember. Not only do we need to watch what we do and say, but we have to be aware of those people in our lives who we think we should follow. We need to make sure we are following them because of their correct and faithful teaching of Christ and not because they sound good or look good! We need to make sure we do learn from God's Word so we can compare what we are doing with what Christ would have us to do. How else are we to know what is right and wrong unless we are able to delve into God's Word on a regular basis and listen to His teachings?

Most of us look upon the bible as being a very complicated and huge book which would be worse to read than something as long as “War and Peace”. But the difference between God's Word and any other book is that it is all relevant. Most books have a lot of fluff in between the interesting parts; God's Word has interesting stuff between the interesting stuff! It is not a book to sit down and read in a day or two and then discard. It is a book which we need to read slowly whilst thinking about each part that we do read.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like reading?

Digest the bible slowly and it will stay with you for longer.