Taking Care of Yourself! (Part 1)

TEXT:

‘Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life’ (Jude v20-21)

THOUGHT:

Jude’s epistle is one of the smaller books in the New Testament but no less significant. The last book before Revelation, (which describes the end-time scenes this world will experience), Jude’s exhortation can help us to be ready for tough times ahead, whenever and whatever they may be.

Jude was one of Jesus’ brothers. ¹ It’s interesting to realise that he started out with his own doubts about Jesus, just like many people do. The Bible says, ‘For His own brothers did not believe in Him’ (John 7:5).

Similarly David’s brothers were dismissive of his calling and anointing to be king, yet they ended up relying on his protection and served in his kingdom. The same happened with Jesus’ brothers. Overcoming doubts, they were filled with the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost, ² and went on to serve Jesus in His kingdom.

This fact should encourage every one of us that doubts are not necessarily a barrier to serving God, for as we keep our eyes on Jesus, we can move on into great faith and do exploits for Him.

Over the years, some Christians have become over-dependent on church ministries for their spiritual food, preferring to be spoon-fed and remain spiritual babies. Now with the church unable to meet together, they can either tune-in to digital broadcasts or slowly starve spiritually. It’s about time they learned how to feed themselves to become and remain strong and mature believers. Shallow and superficial Christians are no real asset to any church.

There is so much in the Bible to help us come out of this Covid-19 crisis stronger and the Holy Spirit is ready to take the things of Christ and reveal them to you. ³

In our text Jude challenges and encourages us to be actively involved with four key things. They are all action words which will help us to be doers not just hearers!

• Building – ‘Building yourselves up on your most holy faith’

Paul challenged the Colossian Christians, ‘As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith’ (Colossians 2:6-7).

To build means we add something. House building involves digging and laying the foundation then adding walls, roof, doors, windows etc. until the house is completed. What can we add to our faith and experience to make it stronger and more Christ-like?

Peter advocated several things, ‘Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone’ (2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT)

Jesus taught if we hear and do what He says, we build our house on a strong rock-like foundation which will withstand any storm. ⁴ This is why Paul challenged the Corinthian believers to be careful how they built on the foundation which is Christ. ⁵ We are to use lasting materials that will stand the test of time.

So take personal responsibility to get into God’s Word and feed yourself. You will be amazed how quickly you will grow and become like the Christians John commended in his epistle, ‘You are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one’ (I John 2:14).

In Part 2 we will look at, ‘Praying in the Holy Spirit’.

Endnotes:

¹ Matthew 13:55

² Acts 1:14

³ John 16:13-15

⁴ Matthew 7:24-27

⁵ 1 Corinthians 3:10-15