Near the end of this small New Testament book we are
instructed to "keep yourselves in the love of God." How exactly does
this work? I thought that we were kept by the love of God, but here we read
that we need to keep ourselves in His love. Which is it? We know that we are
kept by Gods love. Romans 8:35-39 says - "Who will separate us from the
love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For
I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor
any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." This passage, as well as others, makes
it abundantly clear that nothing can separate us from the love of God. So then,
what does it mean to "keep yourselves in the love of God" as we're instructed
to do in this verse? Our relationship with the Lord is one of reciprocal love
or back and forth love. As with any relationship it is two sided. We love Him
because He first loved us. So the passage in Romans 8 talks about Gods love for
us, His love toward us doesn't change. However, depending on how we live our
lives, we can either draw near to Him and enjoy His love or we can move away
from Him and not experience His love. His love doesn't change but my practical
experience and enjoyment of His love will change based on my proximity to Him.
So this command to "keep yourselves in the love of God" is one that
is very practical and very beneficial to us.
In John 15:9 the Lord Jesus said - "Just
as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love."
This is what Jude is saying in Jude 21. We are to abide or remain in the
love of Christ. There are things we can do to keep us close to God as far as
our practical experience of His love goes, God never moves away from us. But
there are also things that we can do to keep God at arms length. In Isaiah 59:2
the Lord says through Isaiah the prophet - "Your sins have separated you
from your God." God cannot tolerate sin. Sin is offensive to a holy God,
and light cannot have fellowship with darkness. So we're told to "keep
yourselves in the love of God. " It takes discipline, but this is our end.
We know from the Scriptures that "It is God who is at work in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure." And the Lord Jesus said in John
chapter 15 - "Apart from Me you can do
nothing." So we recognize our utter dependance on God, but the way
He often works in us is through self-discipline. The apostle Paul said to
Timothy in First Timothy chapter 4 - "Discipline yourself for the purpose
of godliness." We're told in Ephesians chapter 6 to "Put on the full armor
of God that you may be able to stand against firm against the schemes of the
devil." It is God who is at work in us, but there is a responsibility on
our part. And so we're given the instruction to "keep yourselves in the
love of God." We can keep ourselves in the love of God by walking in
communion with Him daily, by prayer and the reading of Gods Word.
In Luke chapter 15 the Lord Jesus gives us the parable of
the prodigal son. This is a story that's familiar to us and it illustrates this
verse very well. Think about the prodigal son, he had a choice to stay close to
his father or go to a distant country. He left, but that didn't nullify the
fathers love for his son. Even when the prodigal was in the distant country,
far from his father, squandering his fathers wealth and ultimately living with
pigs, his fathers still loved him and longed to have that closeness with his
son. It didn't matter what the prodigal son did or how far away he traveled,
his father loved him just the same as he always had. When he came to his senses
he decided to return to his father. And while he was still a long way off his
father saw him and had compassion on him, ran to him, and embraced him covering
him with kisses and calling to the servants to bring out a robe and sandals for
his son and put a ring on his finger. "'bring the fattened calf, kill it,
and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to
life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate."
The nearness of his son didn't make a difference in the fathers love for him,
but it made a difference to the son. He didn't deserve the fathers love but he
got it anyway. He could still wander off if he wanted to and go again into the
far country, but after experiencing that nearness with the father, why would he
wander off again? After knowing the love of God how can we go astray? God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Greater love has no one
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. We know love by this,
that He laid down His life for us. After knowing the love of God for us it
doesn't make sense that we would stray.
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How deep the Father's love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
Jude 21 - "Keep yourselves in the love of God."
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