Jude 1:5 (NKJV)

‘But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.’

We need to keep reminding each other of the nature of God and the response of God to those who have turned away from believing. We need this reminder because it is easy to forget and slip away into the more comfortable and juicy doctrines of the modern era. We are called to keep talking to each other and reminding each other so that we stand firm on the truth. Jude used two vivid examples to show that God does not take lightly, when people turn back from following Him. There were the Israelites whom He delivered from Egypt but when they turned back in their hearts, He refused them to enter the Promised Land. Then there were the angels who also rebelled and stopped believing and faced the judgement for this.

We are saved by faith and not of works but it is criminal to think that after my salvation, I can keep living in sin and turn away from the ways of God and expect that God will accept this. This is fallacy. I must keep reminding myself that God’s Personality includes judgement. I must keep reminding my fellow pilgrims that one of the central characteristics of God is His holiness. We need to remind one another and I need to remind myself- everyday. The way I live my life counts!!

‘Yes, Lord. I know you are not a wicked God. I know you are slow to anger and abundant in mercy. Have mercy on me O Lord and show me where I may have slid away from the truth. Deliver me from easy believism that bears no fruit of righteousness. And use me to remind people around me of your dual nature of holiness and mercy. May I never fall into the category of the early Church of the Wilderness, whom you delivered from Egypt but slew in the desert. In Jesus name. Amen.’