“Others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh” (Jude 1:23).
In 2013, Arizona lost the greatest number of firefighters in its history: 19 men died, members of the elite Hotshot group, highly qualified and famous for successfully fighting the worst fires. They were struggling to stop a forest fire. They managed to save a group of people they did not know, and they kept the fire away from two hundred buildings, but suddenly the fire changed directions and engulfed them. They died saving others.
Up to what point would you try to save the life of others while risking your own? This is the question that Jude presents. His extremely short letter begins with the subject of salvation in Christ, but he dedicates most of it advising how to stop the spread of heresies among his readers. He warns against false teachers and the condemnation that awaits them, and he challenges the faithful Christians to defend the faith that they profess with thoughtfulness, correctness, and timeliness (see Jude 1:5-19).
Be ready co defend the doctrines of the Bible, so that you are able to tell when a message is not Biblical. Jude presents the practical steps needed to achieve this: prayer (see verse 20); a loving, intimate relationship with God (see verse 21); strengthening the faith of those who doubt (see verse 22); showing compassion towards those who have fallen into apostasy, taking care not to be influenced by them (see verse 23). This is an effective message: pray, obey, minister to those in need of peace, and pray for wisdom to not be corrupted by their sin. Keep a balance between compassionate love for the victims of sin and repugnance for the contamination caused by sin.
“The instruction given by Jude from verse twenty to the close of the chapter … [teaches] us how to conduct the warfare in the service of Christ. No one-sided extravagance is to be revealed, no indolence of shiftlessness is to be indulged. We are not to ignore any man’s individuality, or in any way to justify cold-hearted criticism or selfish practice… . There is most earnest work to be done, and we need divine intuition that we may know how to work for souls ready to perish. There are souls to be plucked out of the fire, there are souls who are to be treated with the tenderest compassion. Workers are needed who have learned in the school of Christ His method of saving souls.“—SDA Bible Commentary, vo1. 7, p. 952.
Keep a balance between loving the sinner and having their sin.
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Taken from: Devotional Thoughts for Women 2023
“DAUGHTER OF MINE” Do Not Be Afraid
From: Arsenia Fernandez-Uckele
Collaborators: Xiomara Perdomo & Esteban Cortes
