Discover His heart: He provides the defense for our faith in His Holy Word
No one wants a lawyer defending them in court who is not acquainted with the case. A casual flipping through the trial brief by our defender would not offer much confidence for the desired verdict. We want our lawyer to know our case forward and backward, up and down and all around. We want him or her to know the history of other cases that pertain to our trial, and we want the lawyer to know us and to understand our motives and heart. We want our lawyer to stand firm with us and remain committed to us and our cause regardless of how things look throughout the process. Well, we are defenders today, defenders of our faith. Would God expect any less of a commitment from us in our defense?
“Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.” (3) Jude was the half-brother of Jesus and the brother of James and wrote this letter to the Christian world of his day as well as to us. “I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches, saying that God’s marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. The condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (4) Obviously, these ungodly teachers have been around for quite a long time.
So if we are defenders of the faith, we should know the trial brief inside and out – God’s Holy Word. Studying His Word is the only way to know what we are defending, its history and its future. Lawyers today live, eat and sleep the case they are defending because they want to win. As we read His Word, we become personally involved with our defendant and come to understand His heart and motives, and we build our case on truth, not the lies of His accuser. Then, as a unified team, we are not swayed by the ungodly people who want to destroy our faith. We stand firm with our defendant for a sure victory. We celebrate when His coming to earth, but that was just the beginning of our eternal relationship with Him.
In this process, we bring along others to work with us. “But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.” (20-21) Our courtroom strategy is not so much on paper but in the power of the Holy Spirit, praying in the Spirit, where our faith is strengthened to encourage each other. What a team! Move over Perry Mason, here we come!
Moving Forward: I claim this today for all of us on the defense team: “Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with GREAT JOY into his glorious presence without a single fault.” (24)
Tomorrow @ Deuteronomy 32-34
Phyllis Benigas 