“For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” –Jude 4

Have you ever read the book of Jude? For a while when I was younger I thought Jude was one of the longest books in the bible because I would see Jude 24-25 on a lesson and think we were talking about 2 whole chapters! Then I came to the realization that Jude was only 1 chapter and even then it was only 25 verses long. Anyway… If you haven’t read the book of Jude I encourage it. It is an interesting read. Jude smacks you with the law and it seems that you have no hope, and then he gives you the gospel (he is a good Lutheran!). As I was reading this morning, one thing stuck out to me. Usually we think about all of the evil that is going on in the world and how all of these outside forces or groups will be the ones to come in and cause us to fall away or stop believing in Christ. Jude however warns us otherwise. In verse 4 he says “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation….” It isn’t necessarily going to be those people outside the church that lead others away from Christ. It will also be those who have made it into leadership roles in the church that lead people away. That scares me. Think about it. There will be people in the church, pastors, DCEs, elders, teachers, members, you name it, who will be leading others away from the church. Yikes! I bring this to your attention because it worries me.

I was having a conversation the other day about people who give Christians a bad name and sometimes I think that I may be one of them. Not because I go around blatantly sinning or doing evil things but because I forget to show others how Christians really act. James talks about the sin of omission and the fact that we are being held accountable for those things that we don’t do as well as sins that we do. Sadly, I fall into those categories a lot, and so do you! We all sin and get caught up in those sins but there is something that sets us apart from other people. We know the saving and forgiving nature of our Father. We know that He is aware of all of our sins and yet He doesn’t condemn us for those. He still takes us in His arms, and tells us that He loves us no matter how much we screw up. Forgiveness is what sets us apart. Forgiveness is what carries us through our lives. Forgiveness is what will take us home!

Question for Reflection: What can you do to show others that Christianity isn't an exclusive and judgmental ideology of club? That it is really about people’s eternal welfare.

“False words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the soul with evil.” -Socrates