Three Free Gifts for An Abundant Life

As I read over these words, I feel my eyebrows rise a little and my body let out a deep sigh. Truths like these come as welcome reminders in a jumbled world full of half-truths and no-truths. When social media and a constant news stream seem to barricade peace to a small corner of our lives, we need to keep the eyes of our hearts on praise.

I chose this Scripture for a host of reasons but I'll limit it to three here. It’s half of what is called a “doxology” or a short hymn of praise. It’s found at the end of the 5th shortest book in the Bible. While we aren’t going to aim to memorize the second part, let’s just review it together: “..to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

Maybe you’re like me and have been smacked around by the world a little lately. It’s OK to admit this. It’s also important to be truthful if we want to live authentic lives (Ephesians 4:15).

As Christians who live in the world, we know that life can be stressful, dark and maybe even a little frightening at times. But we also have to keep this truth from Jude a priority in our hearts:

“God is able..”

Let’s review what He’s able to do for us (aside from many other things!):

1. He will keep us from stumbling.

While Jude is the only one to use this word in Scripture, the root of the word used here is also found in 2 Peter 1:10, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.” The word fall here means to fall away from the Lord. That’s good news if I ever heard good news!

2. He will present us blameless before the Lord.

This is a wild truth, friends! Another word for this is “faultless.” I’m sure it wouldn’t take us long to realize we aren’t faultless- unless we think this, then we’re being prideful and that’s a big fault right there! :D But what a relief that it is Jesus who presents us blameless before God! Because I don’t now about you, but I could never keep myself blameless.

3. He brings us into God’s glory with great joy.

In thinking about the holiness of God’s presence, I read through some of Leviticus recently. It blew my mind all over again how blessed we are to be able to be in the Lord’s presence. In the Old Testament, Aaron’s sons were ordained as priests along with Aaron. But when Aaron’s two sons disrespected God’s holy tabernacle, He struck them down dead in that moment. There is a beautiful and wild truth we can see in this, which is the generosity and patience of God exists simultaneously as does the overwhelming justice and holiness of God. When Jesus showed up in the New Testament he ate meals with the most sinful people of that day (both the outwardly and inwardly sinful). But instead of receiving immediate punishment for their sin in his presence, each person was invited to believe in Christ.

Friends, these truths of God’s capacity bring me great relief and I hope they do for you too. This week, let’s remember that our ability to live a full and abundant life come from Him and Him alone.

If you’re joining in our community’s Scripture memory verse this week, happy memorizing!