Carefully Attended To

 

THE LETTER OF JUDE

CAREFULLY ATTENDED TO

Jude 1-2

1:1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:

2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.

NIV

Hey, Jude, except this is a much earlier Jude, and because he says he is a brother to James, it is thought by most scholars of old he was a brother to Jesus, and may well have gone by the name Judas, or as here, Jude. The Greek is the name Judas and it comes from a Hebrew origin name of Jedudah. His letter appears to be a general letter to the church at large rather than to a specific church located in one city, such as many of the letters of Paul were. This letter is rather direct and to the point as we will see as we move through it. The overall tenure of this letter is a warning against false teachers who have infiltrated the church. Jude uses past examples of how God dealt with unbelievers, or rebels or wicked men who denied or disobeyed Him in order to show the need to contend for the faith, to fight for the truth, to stand firm. As we are among those who have been called and answered that call and are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ, this letter is written to us. What we first what to understand is this is usually a common greeting among many of the letters, but still it carries a very significant meaning. Mercy, peace, and love is ours in abundance. We know about mercy, or the compassion of God toward us, we know about peace, as having a tranquil soul assured of our salvation and so we nothing to fear from God and we are content with our lot in life, whatsoever that is. We also know of the Love of God toward us. What is very interesting is that His mercy, peace, and love are not just given to us, but they are poured out upon us in abundance. The Greek word actually means to multiply or to increase. This would give us the idea mercy, peace, and love were not a one-time happening, but they are forever being increased, multiplied toward us. The picture we get is that God does not do anything partially, or halfway, but when He does something, He is all in, constantly in, never forsaking us, but continually with ever-increasing amounts demonstrating his mercy toward us and assuring us we are in his peace and love. This gives us great comfort knowing God is always involved with and in us, pouring himself out on and in us. There is no reason for us to fear Him or life itself for we are loved by God and kept, or as the Greek word implies, attended to carefully, taken care of, by Jesus. Just to think as much as the mercy, grace, and love of God is so incredible, we are being attended to very carefully by Jesus.