Prayer

God of hope,
you call us home from the exile of selfish oppression
to the freedom of justice,
the balm of healing,
and the joy of sharing.
Make us strong to join you in your holy work,
as friends of strangers and victims,
companions of those whom others shun,
and as the happiness of those whose hearts are broken.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Scripture

Jude 17-25

 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁸ They^[a] said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” ¹⁹ It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. ²⁰ But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, ²¹ keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²² And have mercy on those who doubt; ²³ save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment^[b] stained by the flesh.²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time^[c] and now and forever. Amen.

Meditation

In the in between, the now and not yet, we can find ourselves sitting at a place of scoffing.  Not about others or really questioning God as a being that is present.  We can scoff at the Love of God, the Faith He gives, and our place in His family.

Yes there are those who scoff and pursue their own passion.  How convicting and correcting it is when we see that our passion is a distrust of God or and over trust of our own goodness?  Faith is given to us by God, Prayer is His language, He keeps us from stumbling even when we stumble.  He presents us blameless with great joy.

God receives all glory not in spite of our inadequacies and actions but through them He reveals His majestic grace and mercy, truth and justice, peace and hope.

We also receive a call to save by snatching and show mercy with fear.  When we are firmly planted in God’s family, seeing our truth self as His child we want to go grab those who are doubting who their truth self is and we show mercy to those who haven’t discovered who they are yet.  We are cautious not to get enamoured again by the false self that seeks its own passion.  We show mercy and we pursue God.