Jude the Obscure

So I wrote a group of posts on Jude last week--but I never got around to posting them. I think you can get them all in one place by clicking on the label at the bottom of the post. But of course by the strange rules of blogs, the first will be last and the last will be first.

Anyway, looking back a week later,I have a few more thoughts. One is that I need to remind you that I have no reason to expect anyone to listen to what I have to say, but it's been put on my heart so I'm saying it. Second is that I might be very wrong in what I said, and I am almost certainly a little bit wrong so feel free to say I don't know what I'm talking about.

Third is this:
When David wanted to atone for his sin after he took a census. He went to a man and said I want to buy your threshing floor to make a sacrifice. The man said it's yours, you're the king, take it and the wood and the oxen to make your sacrifice. And David said, no I will purchase it, for I will not offer a sacrifice to God that cost me nothing.

When Jesus spoke of the kingdom of heaven he likened it to a treasure in a field that a man found. When he found it he went and sold everything he had to buy the field.

Following Christ is something that carries a cost. It is a sacrifice that requires everything. When we sign on to fight with Christ, we enlist for a lifelong battle against the forces of evil in the world, both within ourselves and in the world. And the way to do that isn't to complain, or condemn, but to seek God, and reach out in grace and peace to those around us.