The Importance of a Letter

Verse 3 of Jude tells us that Jude was originally planning on writing this letter about salvation to fellow believers, but after hearing news of an infiltration of ungodly people in the church he decided to write about defending the faith itself.

This fact got me thinking, "Why didn't he just write about both?"  Well, he might have eventually, but it was this letter that was inspired by God and chosen by Him to be included in the Bible.  In our day and age it is so easy to fire off a quick 'letter' and have it be received within seconds, if done by email and just a matter of days if done by postal services.  In Jude's day, I am guessing it took weeks and even months for letters to be delivered depending upon the distance they had to travel, so Jude had to carefully consider what topic needed to be addressed.

The importance of this letter is far-reaching.  If you read on, it talks about how many people in the church are claiming to be Christians, but living their lives however, they please.  They think that God's grace allows them to commit innumerable sins and they will just be ignored.  While God's grace does cover any sin and any number of sin, it is far from a "get out of jail free card" to give you an excuse to be able to commit the sin itself.  True forgiveness requires a repentance of the sin, and this is not how the people of the church Jude was addressing were living. 

This book speaks volumes about people who know the story of Christ and believe it to be true, but forget about the relationship with Christ that is required for true salvation.  In true salvation, the believer is so grateful for the sacrifice made, that it causes a life-change in the person who believes.

But it also gives me another thought to how I might continue to live in sin and take God's grace for granted in my own life.  While I may not commit sins easily identified by others I often sin in more "socially acceptable" ways, but to God they are still sin and seen just the same.  It is important that I identify these sins and do my best to repent of them and not go back so as to take the grace He has given me for granted.

Hmmm.  Looks like I'll be spending some time in prayer.  :)

I am looking forward to digging in a little farther to what Jude shares on this matter!