Hot off the heels of the kind of criticism and challenge believers are to expect, and the kind of person this will come from, today Jude hits us with another contrast.
20 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.
Straight away we see the contrast, don’t we, but you, beloved. There needs to be a marked difference in your life when compared to the lives of those around you who are not walking with the Lord, who don’t know Jesus, who don’t believe that God raised Him from the dead. This will be our actions, and maybe even more importantly, our reactions.
Jude tells us to keep yourselves in the love of God, to wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life, and we do this by building ourselves up in your most holy faith and by praying in the Holy Spirit.
There is such a personal element to this short sentence, isn’t there. David Guzik writes on this,
“…we are responsible for our own spiritual growth. It means that we cannot wait for spiritual growth to just happen, or expect others to make us grow.”
We must keep ourselves in the love of God, we must wait for the mercy of Jesus, we must build ourselves up in faith, and we must pray in the Holy Spirit.
One of the wonderful things about our faith is that it is lived out in community. The things we must do and the things we are responsible for may seem difficult or even insurmountable some days. This is where a committed, caring, and challenging church family will come into play.
They will be committed to caring for you as you wait for the mercy of Jesus, and they will encourage you and help you to build yourself up in your most holy faith. They will challenge you to do all of those things, and more, all to the ultimate glory of God, and all to the ultimate praise of Him who saved us from darkness to light.
Point to ponder – Am I an active part of a church family? Am I getting this kind of help? Am I giving this kind of help?
Prayer – Father, help us to be different. Help us to live the love that you showed us when you sent your Son to die for us. Empower us today through your Holy Spirit to build ourselves up in our faith, and to support those around us doing the same. Amen.
James Travis 
Hi ,
(Jude 1:20-21) state: ‘ Dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith & praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.’
These verses are propounded
nicely in this article.
This is one way of explanation about how to keep ourselve in God’s love, with faith & praying in the Holy Spirit __:
1)By not loving the world.
###########
God loved the world (John 3:16) But, we do not have to love the world.
(1 John 2:15) says :’Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the
love of the Father is not in him.”
2) By keeping His word & commandments.
##########
These are 3 consistent verses _:
!) (1 John 2:5) says :“Whoso keepeth His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.”
!!) (John 14 : 21, 23-24 ):
Jesus said ‘Whoever has my command ments & keeps them,he it is who loves me. 23-24 ):’“If anyone loves me,he will keep my word, & my Father will love him & we will come to him & make our home with him. Whoever does not
love me does not keep my words & the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.’
!!!) (Deuteronomy 7:9) -:”Know therefor e that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant & steadfast love with those who love
him & keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.’ (Romans 5:5)
That is,’ The fruit of the Holy
Spirit is love.'(Galatians 5 : 22)
We can keep this love of God for _:
#########
!) Loving God.
As Jesus’ command is :Love God with all your heart,with all your soul, with all your mind & with all your strength.’ (Mark 12 :30 )
And,
!!) For helping the needy brother with compassion & not hating him.
(These are 2 consistent verses)
(1 John 3:17) states :“But whoso hath this world’s good,& seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”and,
(1 John 4:20) says :“If a man
say, I love God, & hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he loveGod whom he hath not seen? ‘
<><><><><><><>
LikeLike