“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, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” (Jude 24–25, ESV)
While getting ready for an early morning of work in late winter, I fumbled with my clothes in the dark. I didn’t want to turn on lights and disturb my wife’s sleep. Then, having dressed, I tiptoed out toward the kitchen to grab a piece of toast before my early meeting that day. Going only a few steps, I stabbed my foot on a toy one of my boys had left on the floor the night before. Walking a few more steps, I stubbed a toe on a chair in the kitchen that was out of place. By the time I got to my meeting, my foot throbbed and it hurt just to walk normally. On my next day off, I made sure to remedy all this stumbling around. I got a small LED nightlight and put it out in the hallway. I found it a lot easier to negotiate my way in the dark.
I thought about my stumbling in the dark as I read the scripture for today. Jude 24 talks about stumbling, just not of the physical kind. Instead, this scripture references spiritual stumbling, when you falter or hurt yourself or fall due to spiritual sin or human weakness. Just as the dark hallway caused me to stumble over a toy and stumble into a chair, spiritual stumbling may bring you hurts and pains while negotiating through the dark areas of your life that are not lit up by the grace of God. Those dark spiritual areas are places in your mind or heart or soul where the light of God’s wisdom has not brought God’s grace to bear. They are spiritual places where sin still clouds one’s thoughts in a same way a fog might hamper a boat finding its way. Do you have an area in your life where you unfaithfully stumble due to some spiritual darkness that clouds your way?
Every year during December, Janie would find herself gaining weight. At first, she thought it was because the days were shorter and there was less time to go out and walk. Later, she thought it might be due to holiday parties or Christmas cookies. One year, she decided to test the theories. From November first to Christmas, Janie purposefully watched her diet and exercise time. She kept track of all she ate and all the exercises she completed for the period in a well-documented journal. What she found was interesting. Her exercising kept pace. She was exercising as much in November as in December. However, her eating changed. Most days, she would consume normal calories, but every weekend, she always ate more and felt hungrier. As January rolled around, Janie thought about what changes she might make to help the situation. She decided to eat less and not go out to eat. This did not help. She still consumed more calories on the weekend. What was causing this unnatural hunger over the weekends?
As an evaluation, Janie looked back at her journal. At the end of each day, she would write down what she did and how she felt. Janie noticed that almost every time her husband was home for the day, she would eat more. In trying to figure out why, she came to an interesting self-revelation. She felt more nervous when her husband was home all day. With that information, she began to piece together the reason for her increased eating. Two years previous, Janie’s husband had a heart attack while she was away at a convention for work. Not being there to help, being gone when the heart attack occurred, weighed on her conscience. She felt guilty for her absence, though nothing was her fault. She felt compelled to stop any future heart attacks and make the best of their time together. As a result, Janie was afraid to leave her own home or do anything stressful with her husband there. Guilt and worry and fears for the future took their toll. After talking with her pastor, Janie worked through these emotional issues. It took her a while, but Janie finally saw her eating return to normal. Shedding light on this area of her life helped Janie to come to grips with buried emotions that were eating her up from the inside out.
In the scripture for today, Jude (the brother of James as written in Jude 1:1) encourages his fellow Christians to trust in God fully. This same message applies to you. Through Jesus Christ, God is “able to keep you from stumbling” spiritually (Jude 24). By the power of God’s Spirit, you can bring God’s light to any darkness of your life and “present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy…” (Juke 24-25). God does not want you to stumble around, not knowing where to turn when life’s ups and downs throw you for a loop. God desires to keep you from stumbling in spiritual darkness by shining His holy light into problem areas of your past or present.
A little light helped me to see better and not stumble around in the dark of my home. In a spiritual manner, God can shed a spiritual spotlight upon some area in your life needing work. If you find yourself stumbling around with some issue, let God’s light direct your steps!
I thought about my stumbling in the dark as I read the scripture for today. Jude 24 talks about stumbling, just not of the physical kind. Instead, this scripture references spiritual stumbling, when you falter or hurt yourself or fall due to spiritual sin or human weakness. Just as the dark hallway caused me to stumble over a toy and stumble into a chair, spiritual stumbling may bring you hurts and pains while negotiating through the dark areas of your life that are not lit up by the grace of God. Those dark spiritual areas are places in your mind or heart or soul where the light of God’s wisdom has not brought God’s grace to bear. They are spiritual places where sin still clouds one’s thoughts in a same way a fog might hamper a boat finding its way. Do you have an area in your life where you unfaithfully stumble due to some spiritual darkness that clouds your way?
Every year during December, Janie would find herself gaining weight. At first, she thought it was because the days were shorter and there was less time to go out and walk. Later, she thought it might be due to holiday parties or Christmas cookies. One year, she decided to test the theories. From November first to Christmas, Janie purposefully watched her diet and exercise time. She kept track of all she ate and all the exercises she completed for the period in a well-documented journal. What she found was interesting. Her exercising kept pace. She was exercising as much in November as in December. However, her eating changed. Most days, she would consume normal calories, but every weekend, she always ate more and felt hungrier. As January rolled around, Janie thought about what changes she might make to help the situation. She decided to eat less and not go out to eat. This did not help. She still consumed more calories on the weekend. What was causing this unnatural hunger over the weekends?
As an evaluation, Janie looked back at her journal. At the end of each day, she would write down what she did and how she felt. Janie noticed that almost every time her husband was home for the day, she would eat more. In trying to figure out why, she came to an interesting self-revelation. She felt more nervous when her husband was home all day. With that information, she began to piece together the reason for her increased eating. Two years previous, Janie’s husband had a heart attack while she was away at a convention for work. Not being there to help, being gone when the heart attack occurred, weighed on her conscience. She felt guilty for her absence, though nothing was her fault. She felt compelled to stop any future heart attacks and make the best of their time together. As a result, Janie was afraid to leave her own home or do anything stressful with her husband there. Guilt and worry and fears for the future took their toll. After talking with her pastor, Janie worked through these emotional issues. It took her a while, but Janie finally saw her eating return to normal. Shedding light on this area of her life helped Janie to come to grips with buried emotions that were eating her up from the inside out.
In the scripture for today, Jude (the brother of James as written in Jude 1:1) encourages his fellow Christians to trust in God fully. This same message applies to you. Through Jesus Christ, God is “able to keep you from stumbling” spiritually (Jude 24). By the power of God’s Spirit, you can bring God’s light to any darkness of your life and “present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy…” (Juke 24-25). God does not want you to stumble around, not knowing where to turn when life’s ups and downs throw you for a loop. God desires to keep you from stumbling in spiritual darkness by shining His holy light into problem areas of your past or present.
A little light helped me to see better and not stumble around in the dark of my home. In a spiritual manner, God can shed a spiritual spotlight upon some area in your life needing work. If you find yourself stumbling around with some issue, let God’s light direct your steps!