We’ve been using the summer to reflect on how Jesus’ resurrection transforms our lives and what we need to do to enjoy His fullness of life. As we close out the summer, we need to cover an unpleasant but necessary topic as it enables us to persevere in our faith even as much as hope does. This week, we cover the reality of God’s Judgment:

IN WORD There’s a certain comfort believers find in the Lord of deliverance. It can be an appropriate comfort when we stand in awe of the One who saved us. But when comfort turns to complacency—when we take God’s grace for granted and use it as a license for careless morals—we have fallen into the trap that Jude condemns. We have misrepresented the gospel. That’s what the false teachers of Jude’s day did, so Jude urged the church to remember who God is. Their God did, in fact, deliver His people out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.
But on the way, there were many who rejected the Land of Promise because it seemed so unpromising. To the community of faith, Canaan’s inhabitants seemed bigger than God. So God let a generation die in the wilderness. What’s the point of Jude’s reminder? The God of salvation is also the God of judgment. He majors in grace, but He doesn’t tolerate its abuse. The false teachers who were advocating casual morals and a take-it-easy approach to obedience were distorting the character of God. They were counting on the God of salvation while ignoring the God of holy judgment. They were teaching things they didn’t really understand.
IN DEED God’s will for believers is for us to be saturated in grace and to live in holiness. Teachers who lean too far to one side or the other have skewed the gospel. They have become missionaries of a false mission. It is up to each Christian to be vigilant about such distortions. We have a sacred calling, not only to know both the grace and righteousness of Jesus, but also to communicate them to others in a balanced way.
We were saved from sin—given grace to counter its penalty and the Spirit of truth to counter its presence—and we dare not treat it casually. God’s Son didn’t die on a cross for a casual matter. Never give the impression that He did. “There is a danger of forgetting that the Bible reveals not first the love of God, but the intense, blazing holiness of God.” —Oswald Chambers (in “God With Us” by Chris Tiegreen)

Sadly, there has been an increasing rise in the number of faith distortions in the past few decades. Everything from the Health and Wealth gospel to the acceptance of sexual immorality as God’s gift to Christian nationalism has insidiously led many Christians astray from biblical truths. Many Christians think they can believe whatever they like and that there will be no consequences because of grace and love.
But God’s judgment reminds us that God is holy as well as loving. God’s judgment is very real, and this week’s devotion reminds us of its consequences. Take time to read 2 Timothy 4, 2 Peter, and Jude this week. Ask the Holy Spirit to instill you with a godly fear of God’s judgment so that you may love Him just as much as you desire His love. - from Singapore, Pastor Sam