Jude 1-2

Jude 1-2

Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.  To the called ones in Father God who have been loved and who have been kept by Jesus Christ.  May mercy and peace and love multiply for you all.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

I really love this opening to the letter Jude.  To really understand why, remember who Jude is.  He is the brother of James.  James was a half-brother to Jesus.  Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that Jude is also a half-brother to Jesus.  Being Jesus’ half-brother, it is also reasonable to assume that he was on the same page as the rest of Jesus’ family when they thought Jesus was out of His mind as He was beginning His ministry.  It is likely that Jude was converted after the resurrection around the same time that James was converted.  So why is all of this important?  Look at how Jude talks about his relationship with Jesus.  He is a slave.  He is a slave of Christ.  That’s quite a change!  Jude goes from thinking his half-brother is insane all the way to linking up with Him and joining the cause!  That’s a great turn-around.

Why do you think Jude would make such a turn-around in his life?  What enables such an event to take place?  Do you think that it is easy to take for granted some of the dramatic life-altering changes that many of the leaders of the early church underwent?

Second Thought:

Jude then addresses his audience.  They have been loved.  That’s a perfect tense verb.  God’s love for them began in the past.  It continued.  It continues into the present.  The expectation is that the love of God will continue into the future.  Furthermore, the people who are in Jude’s audience have been kept by Christ!  They were seized by Christ in the past.  Christ has held onto them.  He still holds onto them.  He will continue to hold onto them in the future.  That’s a promise that we all get in Christ.  We have all been loved by God.  We can all be seized by Christ.  We can know the love of God and the possession of Christ now and forever.

What does it mean to you to know the love of God?  What does it mean to you to know that you have been seized by Christ and kept by Him?

Third Thought:

What is the outcome of being loved by God and being kept by Christ?  We grow in mercy.  We grow in peace.  We grow in love.  As we recognize the mercy of God, we appreciate it and desire to spread it around.  As we feel the peace in God, we find something that we do not deserve but can cherish all the more.  This causes us to love.  We can love God and love the people around us.

Where is your love?  How do you feel the peace of God in your life?  How do you experience the mercy of God?

Passage for Tomorrow: Jude 1-2