Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jude 1:23 And others (=those on whom love of God, mercy and compassion didnt work to draw them towards God) save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Many are being drawn towards righteousness of Jesus through, and firstly through, the preaching of love of God - we love Him because He first loved us.
So the order given in the Word is:
1. love of God, as a foundation, and mercy of God,
2. compassion,
3. fear, the last method God resorts to.
Not the other way around. The common thing is to beat on the head with hell and brimstone the people who actually need to hear love and mercy to grow towards God, and most likely this is so because they have been denied love and mercy by their neighbor most of their lives. Now tell them that God rejects them also... what is the only possible result? I testify of these because I was one of these people.
Hell preaching never did absolutely nothing for me nor did it produce any fruit but drive me away from God. But love and mercy was fruitful and caused me to follow Jesus and have a relationship with Him, and when I found this verse I finally understood why. We are not all the same and God uses different ways to reach different people in different phases of their lives. This verse shows us that not all people are meant to be saved with fear, aka the fire and brimstone and other threatening messages. It is a very important information to know.
Does that mean the message should be watered down? No, of course. But it does mean that hell preaching simply wont work on a whole a lot of people to bring them closer to God. It will rather create a lot of damage, false beliefs and set them up for future struggles and misery in their walk even when they get on track. In the opposite case, when a person who needs to hear a warning and is lulled into slumber instead, at least the damage is quickly remedied. Both encouragment and warning are in the Bible because there are both groups of people in the congregation, and we need different things at different moments of our lives. The verses from Jude's letter imply that a discerning should be made. Let us not think that we know on our own accord - better seek of God wise counsel before sharing Jesus with another person: if you are open to listen to Him instead of yourself, He will let you know exactly what that person needs to hear.
Jude 1:22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
Jude 1:23 And others (=those on whom love of God, mercy and compassion didnt work to draw them towards God) save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
Many are being drawn towards righteousness of Jesus through, and firstly through, the preaching of love of God - we love Him because He first loved us.
So the order given in the Word is:
1. love of God, as a foundation, and mercy of God,
2. compassion,
3. fear, the last method God resorts to.
Not the other way around. The common thing is to beat on the head with hell and brimstone the people who actually need to hear love and mercy to grow towards God, and most likely this is so because they have been denied love and mercy by their neighbor most of their lives. Now tell them that God rejects them also... what is the only possible result? I testify of these because I was one of these people.
Hell preaching never did absolutely nothing for me nor did it produce any fruit but drive me away from God. But love and mercy was fruitful and caused me to follow Jesus and have a relationship with Him, and when I found this verse I finally understood why. We are not all the same and God uses different ways to reach different people in different phases of their lives. This verse shows us that not all people are meant to be saved with fear, aka the fire and brimstone and other threatening messages. It is a very important information to know.
Does that mean the message should be watered down? No, of course. But it does mean that hell preaching simply wont work on a whole a lot of people to bring them closer to God. It will rather create a lot of damage, false beliefs and set them up for future struggles and misery in their walk even when they get on track. In the opposite case, when a person who needs to hear a warning and is lulled into slumber instead, at least the damage is quickly remedied. Both encouragment and warning are in the Bible because there are both groups of people in the congregation, and we need different things at different moments of our lives. The verses from Jude's letter imply that a discerning should be made. Let us not think that we know on our own accord - better seek of God wise counsel before sharing Jesus with another person: if you are open to listen to Him instead of yourself, He will let you know exactly what that person needs to hear.
