THE BEST DEFENSE ATTORNEY EVER
A friend of mine recently received a notification that he is being sued because a person tripped and fell on a loose brick in front of his house. The individual filing the lawsuit believes that my friend caused him to stumble because he was negligent in addressing the uneven walkway in front of his home. This has resulted in my friend having to hire an expensive defense attorney, who will likely try to convince him to acknowledge his guilt and settle out of court, rather than appear before a judge who may impose a much stronger punishment.
As my friend told me about this situation, I began to think about the words in 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”. These simple words are in the shortest Book of the Bible and were written thousands of years ago. However, I believe this single verse contains three very important lessons which still apply to us today.
The first important phrase is “Now to Him who is able.” As I was thinking about my friend’s situation, I started contemplating if there was a defense attorney anywhere who could get the case dismissed. The only solution I could come up with is prayer, because I know that in Matthew 19:26 Scripture tells us, “With God, all things are possible.” As flawed human beings, we are weak on our own, but there is always a way to accomplish something when God is involved.
The next few words, “to keep you from stumbling” contain another important lesson. As I thought about the person tripping in front of my friend’s house and blaming my friend for his accident, it made me think about how often we stumble in our spiritual walk and then blame someone else for it. Nobody makes us sin. Every time we spiritually fall, it is because we had improper thoughts that led to wrong actions. However, we can take comfort in knowing that we don’t have to fall. If we’ll let Him, the Holy Spirit is willing to walk beside us with every step we ever take and reach out His hand to catch us if we ever start to fall. We only need to accept His help.
The rest of the words in Jude 24, “and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy”, offer even better news. Despite the fact that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our Helper, we often think that we can do life on our own and then fall flat on our face, covered in the dirtiness of our sin. Yet, it is for this very reason that the Father sent his only Son to die for us. Since Jesus Christ paid the ransom for our sin, we are considered righteous and justified before the Father, just as if we had never sinned at all. If we simply acknowledge the fact that we are sinners and ask Jesus into our hearts as our Lord and Savior, He becomes our defense attorney when the enemy of our souls tries to convince our Almighty Father to hold us accountable for the sins we have committed. When our accuser reminds the Father of our sin, we need only remind Him that Jesus is our defense attorney who has already paid the price for us and the case will be dismissed.
I don’t know exactly what the outcome will be in my friend’s situation, but I do know what will happen in my life. I am human, and therefore have a sinful nature, but I can and will call on Him who is able to keep me from stumbling and present me as blameless before the Father. If you want to hire the best defense attorney in the world, His name is Jesus Christ. You can call Him, day or night, simply by humbling yourself and seeking Him in prayer. The best part is that His services are absolutely free. You only need to accept His free gifts of mercy and grace and He will stay with you for the rest of your life.
