Today, we'll be moving ahead in our study of Jude 20-25. This'll be a little shorter than some of the other posts in this particular study, but hey, I hear short is the new long.
Jude 23 says,
23 And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire...
Suppose you're walking in the middle of New York City and you happen to see a construction team working on a new skyscraper. You and a hundred of your closest friends stop to watch. The main frame of the building is up, and the workers are putting the touches on the elevator shaft. They start to test the lift and send the elevator from the top floor to the bottom floor. As the elevator is sliding down toward the bottom, you look down and see two little children playing right where the elevator will land. What will you do? Chances are good that you are going to push your way through the crowd and sprint for the children. The only thing on your mind when you see those two children is to pull them out of there.
Same idea.
We've spent some time looking at the passages about Hell and God's wrath, so I won't rehash all that here. Let me just say this and leave it there. There are a lot of people that we come in contact with on a daily basis that are playing right under the elevator, so to speak. When we see lost men, women, and children playing around and living each day in danger of God's judgment, we should experience some of the same type of fear as described above. Jude uses a similar analogy of pulling someone away from a fire.
So all of that said, my challenge to you today is to pray that God will allow you to see people as souls in danger of destruction. I guarantee that's all the motivation you'll need.
Not only does this passage describe one of the things we should feel about the lost, but it tells us that people can be pulled out of the fire. There is hope, and we have to rest in that. So let this verse both challenge and encourage you.
