Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father, and kept for Jesus Christ:
Jude 1
I have always liked biblical introductions; it seems that in the epistles there is always so much work done in even the address. There are two ways to read this text. First, you can read it as a list of qualifications for the recipient. With this we would be forced to ask, am I called? am I beloved? am I being kept? And if all the answers are in the affirmative then we may proceed. However, I see a great fallacy in this way of thinking for I do not always feel called, beloved, and kept. In fact, I am finding myself struggling to believe all three at the moment. Reading it this way would result in the subsequent invalidation of most, if not all, of the epistles and the promises they contain. A different approach must be taken, which leads to the second way to read this. That is, not as a question of qualifications but a statement of identity. Jude is not asking us to search ourselves to find if these things are true he is flat out telling us that they are. I am called. I am beloved of the Father. I am being kept for Jesus Christ. There is no room for uncertainty.
But why these three things? How is it that Jude chooses that, of all the things he could tell us, we need to be told that we are called, beloved, and kept? I think, only really knowing myself, it is because we struggle to believe these things. I find myself often, as at the outset of writing this, fighting to believe that those three things are in fact true for me, that Jude meant what he wrote and that they were intended for me. But, I also find its order important because a breakdown in the first results, possibly inevitably, in the breakdown of the second and then a breakdown in the third point of identity. As this may be unclear I will use my own heart as a case study.
Today I woke up feeling like a failure; there was no clear focus of why I felt that way I just did. Everything seemed off and I felt very out of place in life. This then brought about the thought, though no so clearly articulated, “The Father must have made a mistake with me.” Obviously, with relationships in rocky places, classes not where they should be, and a future so blurry and bleak I am not worthy to be chosen of the King, right? But then if I am the product of some divine mistake I am surely not beloved either. It may have started great and I may have been beloved of the Father at the outset but He has probably caught on by now and realized I am not worth His love or time. And, if I am not worth that what assurance do I have that when Christ returns He will return for me, answer: none.
It may seem dramatic, and maybe it is but I don’t think I am alone in feeling this at times. The fact that Jude chooses to address this is proof enough for me that we need to hear it because to believe any of the lies that we are not called, beloved, and kept will destroy you.
The Father has called, the word in the Greek has a connotation of an invitation to a banquet or a feast and that is precisely where we have been called to, the table of our Father. It is not a mistake but an indelible invitation and purpose placed by the King. The Father has also made those whom He has called His beloved. He loves, is pleased with, and contented with His children, that’s what it means to be beloved. His purposes, then, will not be left undone and that is why the Father keeps His own. He has sent out a call to those He loves to a feast of unknown proportions and He has promised that He will keep, or guard as it can be translated, His children until Christ arrives for them.
Do you believe this?
Is this promise for you?
I don’t know you, and I will probably never know you are reading this but I can say that if you confess and believe like Paul writes about in Romans 10 then the answer is a clear and definite yes.
I pray the Father would show you of His love for you. Even more I pray that you would begin to see it, for it is all encompassing and wholly permeating for the believer. May we be brought to our knees in thanks for the grace that has been poured out for us.
Grace and Peace Beloved.
In Christ,
AC
