The Name

8 Days Old

In the craziness of Jude's short 3 1/2 months of life, I have not yet had the time to share the story of his name. While all of the other kids had their name story written weeks before they were born, I am just now getting to write about Jude.

As I have shared in the blogs written about everyone's name (Jonah, Silas #1 & #2, and Lydia), we chose names for our children that were names of significance, names that said something about the character we desire to see in our children, something about what we pray that God will do in their lives. I wasn't expecting Baby #4 to be a boy - although I was thrilled to find out #4 was a boy, I was almost sure he was going to be a she. We were set on a girl's name. We had no clue on a boy's name. Mike and I spent weeks thinking, praying, searching for a name. I had a couple of thoughts that I Googled that didn't turn out all that well - including creepy pictures of criminals! We even went into the induction not 100% sure on a name for our little guy that we had seen on ultrasounds so many times. But, one name kept coming back to me over and over again that I just couldn't seem to give up on even though I wasn't the most sure of - Jude Nathan.

If you haven't read the book of Jude in the Bible recently (no, he isn't named after a Beatles song), I encourage you to do so. It is only 25 verses and will take you less than 5 minutes of your time. Sometime in the past couple of years the book of Jude captured my attention. Even before considering Jude as a name, I found myself drawn to the book because of the imagery some of the phrases brought to mind:
 - written "to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ"
 - written "appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints"
 - encouraging believers "building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life"
 - encouraging those in Christ to "have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them our of the fire; to show others mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh"

For many, many years, Jude's doxology has been my favorite - "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, 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."

Jude was a man who taught of God's righteous judgement but who also taught of God's GREAT mercy in salvation through Jesus Christ. He wrote boldly in his short book. And in those last two verses, he speaks of the most unbelievable, unfathomable yet most true and amazing thing about salvation - that Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, can present those of us who are weak, sinful, and worthy of death as blameless before God. To Him be all the glory!

And for a middle name - Nathan. The story of the prophet Nathan is told in 2 Samuel 12. For those who aren't familiar with it, King David the king of Isreal anointed by God, the family line through whom the promised Messiah would come, had committed adultery with Bathsheba who became pregnant. King David tried to cover up his sin by having Bathsheba's husband Uriah the Hittite killed in battle. God sends Nathan to confront King David with his sin. Through bold but very wise words, Nathan brings David to repentance of his sin before the Lord. Out of David's repentance came one of the most broken and beautiful Psalms - Psalm 51.

Our prayer is that God would make our Jude His from a young age and that He would make Jude bold, yet wise and having great mercy for the lost, hating sin and contending for the faith once delivered for all the saints. And, that our Jude would proclaim the doxology from his heart - "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, 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."