In Jude’s letter, he warns Jesus’ followers to be on the alert for ungodly people in the church.
After detailing their characteristics, Jude tucks in a bit of advice at the end of his letter. Implicitly, it is his recommendations on how followers of Jesus can avoid being ungodly, offering three prescriptions to promote godliness:
- Build up your faith.
- Pray in the Holy Spirit.
- Remain in God’s love.
These, then, are three essentials that we are to actively pursue: faith, prayer, and love.
Although some items on Jude’s list of ungodly behaviors may be far removed from us, other aspects might be quite close, such as speaking against things we don’t understand and being divisive.
What about grumbling and finding fault? For those who follow Jesus, these are apparently all forms of ungodliness.
However, we can do much to avoid these errors as we actively seek to build up our faith, pray with the Holy Spirit’s power, and abide in the love of God.
By following Jude’s advice, we can avoid the error of ungodliness.
A lifelong student of the Bible, Peter DeHaan, PhD, wrote the 1,000-page website ABibleADay.com to encourage people to explore the Bible. His main blog and many books urge Christians to push past the status quo and reconsider how they practice their faith in every area of their lives.
