Forward Movement is an official, non-profit agency of the Episcopal Church whose mission is to create compelling content for Christian living. Since 1935 we have published the quarterly devotional Forward Day by Day, as well as pamphlets, booklets, and books that encourage and nourish people in their lives of prayer and faith.
FRIDAY, December 4 (John of Damascus)
Jude 1-16. These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted.
The little epistle of Jude, which we begin reading today and finish tomorrow, was apparently written to counter a false teaching about the person of Christ. Jude spares no words in describing these false teachers: they are "ungodly sinners," "blemishes," "waterless clouds," "wandering stars," "grumblers, malcontents," "worldly people, devoid of the Spirit." The name-calling that sometimes sours church conventions today is nothing new. Did Jude's opponents speak of him in similar fashion?
You rarely convert people to your point of view by demeaning them. Rational argument, invincible demonstration, and appeals to authority may win people over, so long as they know you respect them. Withering sarcasm, however, converts no one (though it can energize those who agree with us), and insulting people's character or intelligence makes them defgensive and hardens their positions. Being right is important, but how we defend the right is equally important. It is even possible to defend the truth unfaithfully.
PRAY for the Diocese of Western Louisiana (Province VII, USA)
Ps 16, 17 * 22; Amos 5:1-17; Matthew 22:1-14
View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.
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