“These are spots in your
feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried
about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked
up by the roots;” –Jude 1:12 KJV
When I look up into
the sky and view all the fluffy white clouds I tend to just enjoy their beauty. I do not consciously think that all I am
seeing is a form of water molecules starting to condense together. As these molecules grow denser and denser the
clouds become darker and when they have reached a saturation point they become
water drops, falling down to us as rain.
When reading in the
Bible I came across this verse in Jude and it intrigued me. How could a cloud be without water when it is
literally made of water? Then I thought
about how the State of California has struggled through drought after drought
and then such destructive fire after fire.
I remember seeing cloud after cloud pass above me when I lived there,
but none condensed enough to send the much needed refreshing rain. I was seeing clouds without water, they
looked good on the outside but had no life-giving substance. People can be like that too.
Jude explains (in
verses 10-11 KJV) that these “clouds
without water” people “…insult
anything they don’t understand. They behave like irrational beasts by doing
whatever they feel like doing. Because they live by their animal instincts,
they corrupt themselves and bring about their own destruction. How terrible it is for them! For they have
followed in the steps of Cain.”
Think about
this: who was the first evil person in
the world? Cain was; he killed his own
brother in a jealous rage because his brother’s efforts were recognized and his
own were not. Cain was self-centered; he
focused his life on what would benefit himself.
“They behave like irrational
beasts by doing whatever they feel like doing.”
The AMPFLIED Bible
puts verse 12b this way, “They are clouds
with no rain, swept along by the winds. Like fruitless late-autumn trees—twice
dead, barren, and plucked up by the roots!”
Brothers and
sisters, we say that we are not like these people. Why?
Because we are not like “fruitless
late-autumn trees” but we are fruitful, bearing the fruit of the Spirit (“…joy that overflows, peace that subdues,
patience that endures, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that
prevails, gentleness of heart, and strength of spirit.” – Gal. 5:22b-23a
TPT) Jude, in his book, speaks of a
warning to believers, that there are those among us, looking like us, saying
all the right things, doing all the right things, but all out of selfish
motives. They do not bear the fruit of
the Spirit, but rather they strive to look like they do. Just what is in store for these fruitless
people?
“But the evil servant says
in his heart, ‘My master delays his coming, and who knows when he will return?’
And because of the delay, the servant mistreats those in his master’s
household. Instead of caring for the ones he was appointed to serve, he abuses the
other servants and gives himself over to eating and drinking with drunkards.
Let me tell you what will happen to him. His master will suddenly return at a
time that surprises him, and he will remove the abusive, selfish servant from
his position of trust. And the master will cut him in two and assign him to the
place of great sorrow and anguish along with all the other pretenders and
unbelievers.” –Matthew 24:48-51
TPT
“Are you seeking
great things for yourself, instead of seeking to be a great person? God wants
you to be in a much closer relationship with Himself than simply receiving His
gifts-He wants you to get to know Him. Even some large thing we want is only
incidental; it comes and it goes. But God never gives us anything incidental.
There is nothing easier than getting into the right relationship with God,
unless it is not God you seek, but only what He can give you.” — Oswald
Chambers
In conclusion let me
challenge you with this simple question:
are you a cloud without water; are you fruitless, or do you bear fruit
and are you ready for our Master’s return?
