{"id":569,"date":"2017-09-18T06:20:48","date_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=569"},"modified":"2017-09-18T06:21:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-18T14:21:23","slug":"jude-117-18-maybe-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=569","title":{"rendered":"Jude 1:17-18\u00a0 Maybe Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jude 1:17-18<\/strong> – But, dear friends, remember what the apostles\u00a0of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.\u00a018\u00a0They said to you, \u201cIn the last times\u00a0there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.\u201d\u00a019\u00a0These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us are familiar with these scriptures.\u00a0 Certainly we know of people who have scoffed at the prospect of the imminent return of Jesus.\u00a0 We should not be surprised by that since the scriptures clearly say so here and in 2 Peter 3:3<\/strong>.\u00a0 However it should never be Christians who scoff. It is natural for those who don\u2019t walk with the Lord to scoff at the return of Jesus.\u00a0 If they continue in their disbelief, the Lord\u2019s return for them means the eternal judgement for their sins also comes (Hebrews 10:27<\/strong>).\u00a0 What is not \u201cnatural,\u201d what should not happen, is for those who call themselves Christians to also be a scoffer.<\/p>\n

Titus 2:13-14 \u201c<\/span><\/strong>while we wait for the blessed hope\u2014the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,\u00a014<\/a>who gave Himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for Himself a people that are His very own, eager to do what is good.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 To the Believer, the returning of Jesus is our blessed hope.\u00a0 I remember a young man sarcastically, with raised voice, who identified himself as a believer, telling me that it was an okay hope for old people (I was about forty-three years old) to look forward to the Lord\u2019s return because we already had lived out our lives, but for the young, they want to live.\u00a0 I was saddened and did not rebut the opinion of the young man because he really had no desire to hear anything I would say.\u00a0 The truth is that all believers, young and old, should daily wonder if today will be the day that Jesus returns.\u00a0 We should be hoping for that because really, that is when the best part of our eternal lives begin.\u00a0 We must not be ignorant of the fact that this world is not our home, and though God has blessed us abundantly in this world, it does not compare to the blessings of living eternally with the Lord (Hebrews 11:14-16<\/strong>).\u00a0 We must never become too attached to this world (1 John 2:15-16<\/strong>) and prefer it, in any measure, to being in the very presence of God for eternity.\u00a0 If this does not excite someone, then some self-examination and some education is in line.\u00a0\u00a0 Family, in this world we enjoy all of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 Yet this world does not compare to the joy that heaven holds for us.\u00a0 We can\u2019t fully understand or know it (1 John 3:2<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Looking forward to the Lord\u2019s return and hoping it will be today, as early as possible, is a positive factor in our lives.\u00a0 If we are hoping that the Lord will return today, if we are truly believing that, why would we cling to earthly possessions?\u00a0 Instead, we would rid ourselves of anything that distracts us or clings to us as we ready ourselves for the return of our Lord (Hebrews 12:1<\/strong>).\u00a0 It is often said that, too often, we don\u2019t own possessions, possessions own us. Certainly we are thankful for the blessings from God, but if we are thinking that the Lord is coming back today, if we are really believing that, what possession here on earth is important?\u00a0 I think none of them are.\u00a0 Then, only the essentials of life are important.\u00a0 Thinking the Lord will return today keeps us from lusting for things of the world and lusting after them.<\/p>\n

If we are believing that the Lord truly may return today, we will live our lives in a manner that pleases the Lord.\u00a0 The sinful things that hold us, we will shake free from our lives.\u00a0 We don\u2019t desire to have the Lord return and catch us in the act of sinning.\u00a0 How horrible!\u00a0 So, if we believe the Lord is returning today, we keep our lives pure and possessions lose their allure (1 Thessalonians 5:4-11<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Titus calls the appearing of our Lord \u201cthe blessed hope.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0 Indeed that is what it is.\u00a0 Let\u2019s be excited that Jesus could be coming back today.\u00a0 You know, He truly could be.\u00a0 Let our hearts be looking forward to being with God forever in Heaven.\u00a0 May we live for and strive for the return of Jesus.\u00a0 If we do, we shall be ready and unashamed.\u00a0 Let us not have in our hearts what the unbeliever has, hoping that Jesus will delay His return.\u00a0 That is shameful.\u00a0 Let us look with hopeful excitement that the Savior of our souls will return today and that we will forever walk with His love.\u00a0 What we realize now in part, we will know fully then (1 Corinthians 13:12<\/strong>).\u00a0 Jesus may come back today!\u00a0 Yes Lord, yes, come Lord Jesus, come!\u00a0 We await for you.\u00a0 We look out the window hoping that today we will see your return.\u00a0 Jesus, you are our great Hope.\u00a0 Come Lord Jesus!\u00a0 Come and receive our love and praise!\u00a0 Come Lord Jesus!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/strong>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/strong>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jude 1:17-18 – But, dear friends, remember what the apostles\u00a0of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.\u00a018\u00a0They said to you, \u201cIn the last times\u00a0there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.\u201d\u00a019\u00a0These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. Most of us are familiar with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[2136,129,7,104,100,2188,1834,94,90,17,97,2020,757,105],"class_list":["post-569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-blessed-hope","tag-corinthians","tag-god","tag-hebrews","tag-john","tag-jude","tag-lord-jesus-christ","tag-micah","tag-peter","tag-psalm","tag-savior","tag-scoffers","tag-thessalonians","tag-titus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=569"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":571,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/569\/revisions\/571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}