Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
Jude 1:22?-?23
We are called to have mercy on those who do not believe. We are called to share the truth in love and to tell others about the great and powerful love of God. However, this verse is very clear on a couple of things. The first thing is that we need to be merciful to those who doubt and we need to have understanding that not everyone is in the same place spiritually. There was a time in our lives when we were lost and needed to be found. There was a time when we needed to be rescued by our savior. God calls us at different times in life and He works in our hearts in His own time frame. We cannot rush God to work in someone’s life and we cannot force Him to change someone’s heart. Mercy is shown by not being harsh, but by being loving and caring to those who are in our lives.
However, this verse is also very clear that we are going to need to snatch some people from the fire.
When you hear the word snatch it becomes very clear that this is a quick action. I can imagine my kids walking by our fire pit. Maybe they tripped over something on the ground or maybe their shoe is untied, or maybe they were clumsy. But if they were to fall towards the fire I would catch and grab them as quickly as possible.
Or if you are a like me and have ever set some fires in the kitchen, the first thing you want to do is stop the fire from spreading. So if someone was literally falling into the fire and we had the ability to catch them, or push them out of the way, or stop a fire from spreading… Wouldn’t we? It would be wrong to know we had the opportunity to help but instead we watched them fall and get burned and scarred.
This is exactly what the verse is talking about. We have the opportunity as believers to snatch people from heading into forever hell and destruction by telling them about Jesus. The opportunity to swerve the car in the other direction as they head towards the edge of the cliff, the opportunity to quite literally snatch and save someone’s life.
My neighbors have a bug zapping light (I’m sure it has a more technical name than this) but the point of it is to attract the flying insects and mosquitoes in their yard. The light zaps the bugs if they get too close and protects the neighbors from being bit all night while enjoying summer evenings. Bugs fly towards it thinking that it is like any other light, it is attractive to them, glowing and big and maybe even warm, but as they get closer it zaps them. In some ways this world is like a bug zapping light. It is attractive and appealing but if you get too close or fall in too deep to it’s many temptations you will only be zapped- hurt, broken or even worse. People telling you about Jesus are trying to snatch you away from the misleading light of the world and guide you to the true light of Jesus Christ.
If you are in need of being snatched away from the fire, it’s not too late. God is calling all of us to Himself, calling us to repent and turn away from sin in our life and to run away from the fire of the world and be rescued by the saving redemption of Salvation in Christ alone.
Isaiah 50:10b
If I can pray for you please message me. I am not just a stranger on the other side of a blog post but someone who truly cares for the souls of all who hear and read this. I pray you are blessed today and that God calls you to Himself.
The Lord bless you and keep you,
Kara
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