Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 146 - Living In Reverent Fear Received this from a friend? Why not join Eternity Daily Bible Study? Go to https://www.aibi.ph/articles/eternity.htm to subscribe. (Jude 1:20-25 NKJV) But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, {21} keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. {22} And on some have compassion, making a distinction; {23} but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh. {24} Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, {25} To God our Savior, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen. The first impression I received from these verses was that being a Christian was earnest, not casual. There is a godly fear of sin here. Christians are to live far from sin, growing in holiness day by day: Edification - Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, Intercession - Praying in the Holy Spirit, Loving Fellowship - Keep yourselves in the love of God Hope - Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Secondly the Christian life is earnest towards others, and Jude advises us about perhaps three groups of sinners - those that stumble, those in peril and those that are hardened. Those that stumble are to be picked up and treated with compassion, those in peril are to be wanted vigorously and snatched from the flames with due caution, the hardened sinners - such as the false teachers mentioned earlier, are to be altogether avoided. Thus Jude says we are to "make a distinction" and be wise. To lump a hardened cult leader in the same category as a stumbling teenager would show little understanding. It is God who keeps us on the straight and narrow path. He is able to "keep you from stumbling" and present you "faultless". Ultimately sanctification is God's work. Our role is simply to keep the connection to God open and alive so He can do His transforming and sanctifying work within us. The four actions Jude commends - edification, intercession, loving fellowship and hope are not legalisms but rather are gateways to God and His work in our life. In a previous devotional I gave the illustration of two balloons. One is large and grand and inflated but has a small hole in it. The other is small and flat but is connected to an air pump. In time the grand balloon will go flat and the small balloon will become larger and larger. So it is with souls connected to God. If you stay connected God's life will enter into you and you will grow - and even outgrow many who think they are important. Sanctification is not about this work or that, or wearing make-up or not dancing. sanctification is about letting Jesus into your life through edification, intercession, loving fellowship and active hope in God. If we let God's life into us that Life will keep us from stumbling and present us faultless before God. Without that Life entering into us and actively working in us being faultless and keeping from stumbling become a joyless legalistic treadmill. How then can we have the life of Christ and the love of God active in our lives and transforming us into holy people day by day? Firstly we must accept that we cannot do it ourselves, that Jesus in us needs to be the One living the Christian life. Then we should prayerfully hand our sanctification and its processes over to Him. Secondly we must do what He asks and take His commandments seriously and desire to live holy lives in the love of God. While we cannot perform these commandments in our own strength we must at least will them, for God does not operate without our willing consent. Our job is to love the commandments and to desire to do them. God's job is to give us the strength and wisdom, gifts and opportunities for this to take place. As I have said over the last few days, we are not to live sensually, selfishly, materialistically and lawlessly as if the commands of Christ were optional. If we love Christ we must obey His commandments - with the strength He gives us to do this. Finally we need to attend carefully to our own edification and prayer life in the Spirit. We must "build ourselves up" not just wait for Sunday morning for someone else to build us up. Our life is our responsibility. Make time each day to pray, make time each day to study the Word. I hope these daily bible studies are part of your edification! If you need a bible-reading plan go to: http://www.aibi.ph/articles/biblereading.htm if you need a good book on sanctification and growing in God try my free ebook Biblical EQ - http://www.aibi.ph/beq/ Blessings in Him, John Edmiston Asian Internet Bible Institute http://www.aibi.ph/ Free Online Bible And Ministry Training This devotional may be freely forwarded to others and used for non-profit ministry purposes as long as the following copyright notice is included. © Copyright John Edmiston 2003