To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.  Jude 24

Without fault.  Me?  How can that be?  I need moment by moment cleansing, of that I am sure because I am faulty.  I can not possibly declare myself without fault, not for a moment.  So what is the Spirit of the Lord trying to say to me?   I believe I hear him say that I am no mystery to Him. He knows me through and through, all of me.  The truth is, because I am living in constant cleansing as his child being saved, he sees me covered, not by my own self-made virtues but by the Blood of Jesus, the perfect Sacrifice.  I may never, never forget that.  Jesus sees me covered by Christ’s righteousness.  Were he to see me without Christ, what hope would I have?

Of course I try, desperately, to live a faultless life, every moment of every day.  But that does not earn my salvation, it simply announces that I am a repentant sheep in God’s saved flock and I love the Shepherd of my soul so dearly that I want to do his will to the best of my ability. My hope is not in my obedience, but in the saving power of God. My obedience is but a sign that I love my Shepherd!  My life is a thank offering, pure and simple.

It is on the basis of that amazing, comforting fact that I can break out with full-throated praise, as Jude says, with great joy because my joy is based on the fact that God loves me and protects me every hour of every day.  I am saved by his sacrifice, not by my striving to do good. I will ever keep all that in my heart and mind, ever.  May God help me to do so.

I love Jude’s words, his glorious presence.  I and you live in God’s presence, his glorious presence.  There is no distance between God and his saved ones.  They are unspeakably close. So, let us praise our Maker, our Savior, our Friend and our eternal Hope, now and ever more.