Jude 24
“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…”
It is His great joy to be able to present me blameless before the presence of God, of God’s glory.
When I read this it seemed so profound, so I wanted to really think about this single sentence.
We see that He does all the work in us.
He instructs us earlier as His “beloved” to be “building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the Love of God”
But, then, the passage goes onto say that it is He “who is able to keep you from stumbling.”
As much as I try without Him, I can do nothing.
I’ve seen that in my own life. I try to do things in my strength, to make a difference in my strength, to do great things in my strength, and, whether my efforts fail, or don’t satisfy me, or I’m disappointed in some part of myself in the process, I always stumble and fall.
But “to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.”
He does all the work,
so that He can, because of His own power, present me blameless (innocent, guiltless, exemplary, perfect, pure, impeccable, faultless.. and we cannot even begin to pretend that we are any of those things on our own in the world, let alone before God) before the presence of God’s glory
That’s what He wants. He wants me to be able to be blameless before the presence of God’s glory and for Him to be the one to present me that way.
IT GIVES HIM JOY to do all the work so that I get to experience standing blameless before the Lord, before the King. I’m seen perfect in His eyes all because He kept me from stumbling.
He takes joy in this.
So, why do I feel sometimes like I can’t run to Him for help in absolutely EVERYTHING if He’s telling me He takes joy? Why do I feel sometimes like I don’t NEED to run to Him?
“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.”