Aspirations may not be the word you use when you think about making changes or beginning new things in a New Year. Perhaps you use the word resolutions or more honestly yet “illusions” (humor added!).

Regardless of what word you choose, I appreciate the way the Word of God gives me access to the men and women of faith who so much have and continue to influence my life - and I suspect yours too.

The book of Jude is probably not the place where most of us would go when it comes to considering good New Year’s aspirations or resolutions. However, I have found recently that it is. As we get close to Jude, we can hear his strong emphasis on several things that are essential for us to consider in this new year.

I invite you to read the following verses found in the only chapter of his book:

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.”

As you can see, there are quite a few action verbs in this few verses. Jude exhorts us to:

Build up our most holy faith
Pray in the Holy Spirit
Keep ourselves in the love of God
Await for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
Have mercy on those who doubt
Save others out of the fire
Show mercy with fear to others

According to Jude, these actions need to be our priorities. For him, our holy faith, our communion in prayer and dependency on the Holy Spirit, being rooted in the love of God, living with our expectations set on Jesus, and relating to other people in God-honoring ways are paramount.

Interestingly, as we read these verbs in our English language, they do sound as imperatives. To anyone’s surprise, the only imperatives in this list are:

Keep yourself in the love of God, have mercy on those who doubt, save others by snatching them our of the fire, and show mercy with fear to those who are defiled by their own flesh or way of living.

This is not to say that the other exhortations are not as important, it just means that a stronger emphasis is placed on them. The imperatives are not considered options but rather requirements.

My encouragement to us is to sit with these verses and ask the Holy Spirit to speak to each one of us. As we do this, we may find grace to align our hearts and lives with the priorities God has for His children in this short letter.

Jude ends his letter offering us the basis for our confidence:

“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, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.”

May God’s will become our resolutions or aspirations in the New Year 2023!

—Diego Cuartas