8 May ESOCS Devotional
TEXT: JUDE 14-25
MEMORY VERSE
“…When the last days come, people will appear who will make fun of you, people who follow their own godless desires.” Jude 18
Jude the brother of Jesus Christ is believed to be the author of Jude. He wrote to “warn believers of false teachers trying to convince believers that being saved by grace gives them license to sin.” There is indeed no better way to oppose false teachers than by means of the truth about God’s grace as revealed in the Bible. You cannot do this if you are not grounded in the word of truth.
Truly, we should not be surprised the way things are going in our country today. Not only that majority in our country does not patronize those who preach the raw gospel of salvation and the truth, our people are burdened with the inability of the ruling class to carry out their basic constitutional mandates. Insecurity and poverty are on the increase. The blood of the innocent wasted for no just cause.
Apostle Paul spoke of it in 2Timothy 3. Here in our text we are reminded of the antics of the false teachers and prophets who outnumber vocal preachers and prophets of truth. Are we truly mindful of them? They have brought in entrepreneurial schemes into the mission of Christ and floating in the resultant affluence. To them, holiness is measured by the wealth you control. According to one of them, “The poor are not holy.”
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We have to note this trend and beware of it. In verses 17-19 of our text, we read, “But remember, my friends what you were told in the past by the Apostles…when the last days come, people will appear who will make fun of you, people who follow their own godless desire….who cause divisions, who are controlled by their natural desires, who do not have the Spirit.”
But the understanding that the target we have as Christians is not only to prosper according to the will and purpose for which God has called us to Himself, but to also make eternal life at the end should He make us be committed to building our faith and doing the work God He has called us to do. In verses 20 and 21, we read thus, “…Keep on building yourselves up on your most sacred faith…and keep yourselves in the love of God as you wait for our Lord Jesus Christ in His mercy to give you eternal life”.
Our target is to reduce the number of sinners on earth and populate the kingdom of God(verses 22-24). The strength to succeed in this is the Lord who called you into the service.
We act in wisdom when we pay attention and be committed to the task that will keep us on the track that God has chosen for us, in order to ascend to the height that He has set for us.
CHALLENGES
√ From the way things are today, do you think we are in the last days?
8 MAY ESOCS DEVOTIONAL – PRAYER POINT
√ Lord, please keep me on the right track that will serve your purpose on earth.
√ Let me receive the crown at last, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!
FURTHER READING
√ Ruth 1:1-22; Jude 1-13
