OUR DAILY BREAD : ALL SPRUCED UP

[cimi]

January 18
Saturday


All
SPRUCED UP

READ:
Jude 1:20-25
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[Jesus] is able to keep
you from stumbling,
and to present you
faultless. __Jude 1:24
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Getting our children to look good for church was always a challenge. Ten minutes after arriving at church all sprucedd up, our little Matthew would look like he didn't have parents. I'd see him running down the hall with his shirt half untucked, glasses cockeyed, shoes scuffed up, and cookie crumbs decorating his clothes. Left to himself, he was a mess.

I wonder if that is how we look sometimes. After Christ has clothed us in His righteousness, we tend to wander off and live in ways that make us look like we don't belong to God. That's why Jude's promise that Jesus is "able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless" gives me hope (Jude 1:24).

How can we keep from looking like we don't have a heavenly Father? As we become more yielded to His Spirit and His ways, He will keep us from stumbling. Think of how increasingly righteous our lives would become if we would take time in His Word to be cleansed with "the washing of water by the word" (Eph. 5:26).

What a blessing that Jesus promises to take our stumbling, disheveled lives and present us faultless to the Father! May we increasingly look like children of the king as we reflect His loving care and attention. __Joe Stowell

```````````````````Lord, thank You for the blessing of being clothed``````````````````
````````````````````in Your beautiful righteousness and the promise``````````````````
```````````````````that You will keep me from stumbling and present````````````````
``````````````````````me faultless before Your Father and my God!`````````````````
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To reflect the presence of the Father
we must rely on the Son.

*****************************Today's Bible Reading __ Jude 1:20-25********************************

20 But you, beloved,
building yourselves up on
your most holy faith,
pryaing in the Holy Spirit,

21 keep yourselves in the
love of God, looking for the
mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ unto eternal life.

22 And on some have
compassion, making a
distinction; 23 but others
save with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating even
the garment defiled by the
flesh.

24 Now to Him who is able
to keep you from
stumbling, and to present
you faultless before the
presence of His glory with
exceeding joy, 25 to God our
savior, who alone is wise,
be glory and majesty,
dominion and power, both
now and forever. Amen.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Jude's beautiful benediction has been widely used in church
services for hundreds of years (vv.24-25). It is a word of praise
to God for His wonderful works of preserving and perfecting
believers. The high priest Aaron similarly blessed Israel as a nation
by reminding them of God's character (Num. 6:24-26). Likewise,
in the Pauline epistles we are admoinsied to praise God for both
His provision to sustain our faith (Rom. 16:25-27) and for His
unsearchable wisdom in providing our redemption (Rom. 11:33-36).
Each of us is likely to stumble in our words and actions, but Jude's
admonition indicates that stumbling does not mean defeat. Instead,
God's power can pick us up again and move us forward.