Kept

“Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

“To those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:

“May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.

“Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith… [of] the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed.., ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ…

“These people… defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones… [They] blaspheme all that they do not understand, and are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively.  Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain… and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are blemishes at your love feasts,.. without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted…

“These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage…

“They said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.’  It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit.  But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life…  Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 1-4,8,10-12,16,18-21,24-25

The short letter of Jude, brother and servant of Jesus Christ, begins and ends with the concept of being kept. He addresses the believers as those who have been called and are beloved by Jesus, each bearing the assured keeping of the Lord himself. Those He calls He watchfully and securely keeps in His steadfast love. An appeal to contend for the faith, bewaring ungodly people who would lead to perversion of grace and godly living by keeping themselves in Christ’s love, is hemmed in by blessing. The salutation extends mercy, peace, and love, and the closing declares God’s keeping power.

Contending for faith is of utmost importance in the onslaught of rebellion and deception, the cultural mire of unreasonableness and immorality. Contrasts are clear, and God’s people are called to stand distinct. How are we keeping ourselves in the love of Christ and reality of His kingdom?

When we’re kept by Jesus, we can rely on His truth over qualms and pressures. By His mercy, we desire to honor Him with our bodies over defiling the flesh, submit in joy to His authority instead of rejecting it. What evidence of Christ’s keeping do we display in how we respond to temptation, the antagonism of people around us, the challenge of unjust or disagreeable authority? How has He kept us in His wisdom, understanding, Spirit’s gifts, and hope? How will we live more boldly and confidently in a harsh world knowing we’re kept for Jesus, by Jesus? Secured by His benediction of power we go! (Revelation 1:3)

Father, help me keep Your word in faith and exemplify the grace and glory of your wondrous keeping.