Hey Jude, verses 24 and 25

The final two verses of Jude:

Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

Ah, there’s the good news again!

1. What happened in the text?
   Jude points to God’s sustaining character.
2. What do I learn about God?
   He is able to keep me from falling.
   He can cause me to stand, rejoicing, unblemished in His presence.
   He is the only God.
   He is our Savior through Jesus Christ.
   He has been, is, and will always have glory, majesty, power and authority.
3. What should I do about it?
   I got word yesterday about somebody talking smack about me. It really ticked me off, because that somebody has an impressive knack for interpreting everything I say or do in the worst possible light. That got me to thinking about that somebody’s faults, and pretty soon I was in a foul mood. Woke up annoyed this morning.
   But this passage has a fix for that. There is One who is able to keep me from falling. That One will cause me to stand without blemish before His presence. If I hang onto that, I am freed from having to set the record straight, because Christ has done that work already. I don’t have to tear down my detractor, because the only judge who matters has promised to accept me because of who I know – Jesus.
   And I suspect that’ll be the biggest thing I should do about it for the next few days: realize I’m settling into feeling angry or hurt or betrayed, and remind myself of Jude’s doxology and what it says about God and what it means for me. Thanks, Jude!

Other thoughts:

• I’ve heard more than once the argument that Christianity is antisemitic because of the name of the betrayer, Judas. This is supposed somehow to represent all Jews. This line of thinking is unfathomable to me, given that one of the other disciples was also named Judas, and because “Jude, … brother of James” would also fit into that category. While I’m at it, I can’t deny that some meatheads have rationalized their antisemitism with the thought that “the Jews killed Jesus.” I don’t know any of these meatheads, so I’m not sure how they mentally get around Jesus and all the Apostles being Jewish. I suspect that they’re not doing much mentally. Worse, it ignores the fact that Jesus the Christ came to earth to be a sacrifice, and that every person individually contributes to the debt of sin that Jesus came to erase. Including meatheads.
• That’s the end of Jude. Time to start a new page and a new book!