From the UCC Network: 10/10/2011 "Into God's Custody"

Into God's Custody


Excerpt from Jude 17-25

"To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy..." (NIV)

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

I don't think many people truly understand the significance of benedictions –the final words of blessing.  We know that the last words of loved ones leave lingering effects in our minds and memory,  yet many people give little or no value to the final words of God that conclude a service of worship.  Often, people are too busy or too eager to meet their next engagements to even remain in place for the benediction.

 The book of Jude is a concentrated statement of contentious concern.  The writer stridently argues for the preservation of his Christian belief against the intrusions and deceptions of false teaching.  Jude urges his hearers to hold earnestly to their faith and to resist the temptations to compromise with evil.  Then, at the end of his urgent call for Christian vigilance and perseverance, Jude pronounces a benediction.

In the benediction, Jude's words of contentious caution give way to words of care and concern.  The focus is shifted from those who would destroy the body of believers to the one who is able to deliver the body of believers.  Jude is so concerned about the ongoing life and health of his hearers that he commits them into the care and custody of the one "who is able to keep them."

Perhaps what we experience in worship wouldn't be so fleeting and so easily forgotten if we paid more attention to the final words of blessing.  Perhaps we would feel less abandoned in our daily lives outside of church if we really received and held on to the blessing of the benediction.

For all of us who are so easily distracted from the paths of truth by vain trivialities; and for all of us who sometimes allow doubts and fears to diminish our godly resolve, the benediction releases us and commits us into the custody of the one who is able.

Prayer

Dear God, help us to be cognizant of every benediction, and let every benediction serve as the blessed assurance of your constant presence and protection in our lives.  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.