False Motivation
Jude 16, 12-13 — “These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; late autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots; raging waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” 6(NKJV)
Jude’s first desire in writing was to share the gospel, but he was compelled by the Spirit to cast a warning instead. Though a stepbrother of Jesus, he never claims that kinship in this letter, citing only that he was a brother of James. No name-dropping. No leveraging the connection.
As an eyewitness to the ministry of Jesus himself, it infuriated him that false teachers were creeping in and deceiving. Jude’s passion is on full display in these verses. Their motivation was self-elevation. He always pointed back to Jesus.
The warning is clear. Pride leverages relationships for self-exaltation. Flattery becomes a strategy for personal gain. Influence becomes a means of feeding the ego. These people were clouds without water, trees without fruit. They looked the part but produced nothing of eternal value.
That is not the mark of a leader worth following. And it cannot be the mark of the leader you are becoming.
Humility doesn’t claim what it could. It serves quietly and points upward.
How do you walk in humility?
Stay on Mission
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