Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Jude 24-25

We live in a world that very much parallels the conditions Jude describes in his brief letter to the church. In just one page on my Bible, Jude contends for the faith with such intensity it is easy to overlook the components of God’s power, grace and the joy found in knowing Him.

I’ve heard the verses above used as a benediction in church on more than one occasion and they are comforting and encouraging words for us today.

• We know God’s power in our lives as we depend on Him and experience how He keeps us “from stumbling.” Left to my own devices, I resemble the words of the hymn – Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
  here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
  seal it for thy courts above.
• Thanks to God’s grace we will be presented “blameless before the presence of his glory.” The older I get, the more I recognize it is only by God’s grace that I stand.
• And then we see that when we are in His presence we will experience the greatest joy. I am reminded of another hymn – “Joy Unspeakable.”

So it goes without saying I suppose that Jude’s final words would simply point each of us to honor the God who was, and is ,and is to come.