6-5-2016

       Good Morning All!! 

              Jude 24; “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy”     

    Do you ever watch “Funniest Home Videos” or on the internet when they show high fashion models and they slip and fall down?  Boy, sometimes they really wipe out completely.  You can watch them go head first into the orchestra pit or photographer’s pit and it is just boom.  I watched one where these girls were modeling swimsuits.  The promoter had them walk out of the shallow end of the pool and on this reviewing stand.  By the time the fifth or sixth one was on the stand, it was so wet no one could walk. So the next ten or twelve were slipping and sliding and falling all over the place.  Some of them looked painful.

    Think of the times when we are walking along and we stumble.  Sometimes we catch ourselves and sometimes we don’t.  Sometimes when we catch our balance; it hurts worse than if we would have simply fell.

    In the Bible, we read where our life is compared to a journey or a race.  If you are in a race, just about the worst thing you can do is stumble.  Not only do you fall down but you usually wipe out a couple of other runners, get stepped on and then blamed for everything.  Or think in terms of someone who is trying to get in a building and the wind and the weather is such that it is almost impossible; sometimes we need someone who will help keep us up and not falling down.  Sometimes we need someone to pick us up when we fall.

    Our verse speaks of Jesus as the one who is able to keep us from stumbling.  This, of course, is the kind of language where we are struggling with temptation and sin and we try and deal with it on our own.  When we do, we always fail; we always stumble.  No matter how many times we try, no matter how many times we fight; we will always stumble and fall.  It is like the models trying to walk on the wet walkway; it is just not going to work.

    The truth is that when the devil sets out to trip us up, to make us stumble; we can never catch ourselves.  The devil has such sly and hidden methods that we are quickly falling before we even know what hit us.  Usually when we stumble and fall we tear our clothes, scrape our elbow or knee and generally end up a little worse for the wear.  After stumbling a number of times, we really are a mess.

    Yet Jesus picks us up and brushes us off when we do rely on our own abilities.  Yet if we keep our faith in him, he will keep us from stumbling so that we are presented blameless before him. 

Dear Lord Jesus, you keep us from stumbling into the devil’s traps and we give you thanks.  Keep us mindful that we cannot stand on our own but that we wholly lean on you in your precious name we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret