v. 17 – but you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotional:

“Beloved.” There’s that word again. It is a gentle reminder to us, the Church, that we are to be loved by God because of our identity as His children. It is a word that lingers with us no matter how many times we hear it or use it because it’s meant to have staying power on the soul. Jude strikes at the heart in this verse by stating one way we “be loved” is to remind ourselves of the words of the apostles. In the verses that follow, he goes on to be very clear about which predictions he is presently referring to but we won’t focus on that just yet. Today, let’s sit inside the instruction to remember the words of the apostles.

Remembrance is at the very heart of our faith. It is Jesus our Lord who, at the last supper, gave us the gift of communion where we are to solemnly remember His broken body and shed blood as being the cornerstone of our very lives. It is also remembrance that brings us back to the center of our faith when we find ourselves wandering through days of disillusionment or doubt. To remember something is to go back in our mind’s eye and visualize something to bring it into our present circumstance. To remember the things of Christ and His apostles through the eye of faith and to be able to see with that eye is a gift of grace.

Maybe today you are experiencing some real anxiety and you need to remember the Apostle Paul’s words in Philippians 4:6-7. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Or maybe you feel hopeless and need to hear the Apostle Peter’s words recorded in 1 Peter 1:3-4. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

Perhaps you are in a season of doubt and need to be reminded of the surety of God’s love for you. Read the Apostle John’s words to you in 1 John 3:1. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”

These are the words of men who saw the resurrected Christ in the flesh, given to them by the Spirit of God and delivered through them to produce joy in our lives. Our joy is married to our remembering because when we look back over our life, we can see God’s faithfulness in our history as well as the history of all things. Remembering His faithfulness gives a great foundation of confidence as we look into the future because we know He will continue to be who He has always been and do what He has always done. If there is ever a time when I am frustrated or disheartened in marriage I think back to the night when I asked my wife, Jennifer, to marry me. I remember sitting at her feet with a bowl full of water and a towel as I committed to washing her feet with my life for as long as we both shall live. In the same way, when parenting my children well feels like a burden to me, I remember holding them as infants and looking into their beautiful eyes and I am quickly overcome with a sense of the blessing they are in my life.

To remember is to go back in our mind’s eye to find the places of purity where purpose is clearly seen, and to bring those moments into the present. It is the same when we remember along our faith journey. We go back through the eyes of faith and place ourselves at the table reclined next to our Savior as He passes the bread and the cup, and we remember His words and His actions on the cross that brought us into an eternal common union with Him. We also go back to the shores of the Sea of Galilee when Jesus called the brothers who would become apostles as He said, “Follow Me” and we drop our nets with them and we follow Him.

We remember the words of the apostles because God gave them those words so we could remember – and in doing so, we experience Him fully.

REFLECTION:

What words of the apostles do you need to remember today? In what ways has remembering what God has done to show you are beloved brought you renewed joy recently?