Today's Devotion

Friday, December 12, 2025 - Jude

In the name of + Jesus. Amen.

This little letter of St. Jude, a kinsman of our Lord, and of James (the bishop of Jerusalem), is one of the shortest “books” in the Bible. Jude gets right to the point, “very eager to write to [us] about our common salvation.” And he makes a point that though salvation is “delivered to the saints,” as a gift, “once for all.” Nevertheless, we are to “contend for the faith.” We are to struggle to keep the faith, and we are to fight for the articulation of the faith – in its purity and truth.

Like the apostles Peter and John, and like his brother James, Jude is sounding the alarm about “certain people” – even at this early stage of Christendom – who “have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation.” And these are “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality,” who “defile the flesh” and “reject authority,” who “deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ” and “blaspheme the glorious ones.” Jude reminds his readers about the “unnatural desire” and “sexual immorality” of “Sodom and Gomorrah” as a red flag for false teachers in the church.

“Woe to them,” says Jude. For they are “like unreasonable animals,” and “are destroyed.” We must watch out for them, just as sailors have to be on the lookout for “hidden reefs.” They are like Balaam and Korah, false prophets from the Old Testament who “feast with [us] without fear.” And before we get too cozy with them, justifying ourselves, let’s not forget that “the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved [for them] forever.” Jude calls us to beware of these “shepherds feeding themselves” who are “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires… loud-mouthed boasters.”

Jude encourages us to remain faithful. For “in the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. It is these who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the Spirit.” In response, we are to be “building [ourselves] up in [our] most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, [keeping ourselves] in the love of God.”

And by means of this faithful confession, we can indeed “save others by snatching them out of the fire.” For it is only “God, our Savior” Himself “who is able to keep [us] from stumbling,” who presents us as “blameless before the presence of His glory.” Indeed, to Him be “glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.”

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.