Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. –Jude 21
“Keep yourselves in God’s love…” What a simple statement; what profound instruction.
Many people today have a notion that the Bible is a big book of rules and that God is aloof, stern, and fearsome—ready to zap us with a bolt of lightning at the smallest infraction. Many of us, even believers, still have a confused view of God. We feel that sometimes He loves us but sometimes we’d better walk on eggshells around Him!
But the New Testament reverberates with countless expressions of the Father’s deep love for us, as in John 3:16 and Romans 5:8-9. The Babe in the manger we will soon celebrate was given because God loves you and me so much that He would pay the ultimate price to reconcile us to Himself.
How do we respond to this amazing love? How do we keep ourselves in God’s love? As we walk through this Advent season, let us be less self-conscious and more God-conscious; less sin-conscious and more grace-conscious. Let us remind ourselves that the very reason for Christmas is that God so loved us that He took on human flesh, He came into this world as a baby for the sole purpose of redeeming us and reconciling us to Himself!
Finally, how will this awareness affect our relationship with Him? I know that for me, it makes me fall deeper in love with Him. It changes what I do when I fail Him because instead of running from Him, now I am free to run to Him for forgiveness and cleansing as I keep myself in God’s love!
-Ed Gonzales
