Abiding in God’s Love
Friday’s Verse:
From Jude 21 ESV
Keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.
Jude’s words here are both an encouragement and an exhortation. He points us to the security of God’s love in Christ and reminds us of our calling to abide in that love. Jude knows a world full of distractions, false teachings, and trials. That is the context in which he writes. And so, he calls believers to hold fast to the unshakeable promise of God’s mercy in the face of a tempting and seductive world.
“To keep yourselves in the love of God” is not about us earning the love of God. We have it already in Christ Jesus through His cross and resurrection. But to “keep” ourselves in the love of God is to live and dwell in that love; to let that love transform our everyday lives, our decisions, and our relationships. To live like branches that are kept by abiding in the vine (John 15:5). We do so rooted in Christ, nourished by His Word, and strengthened in prayer.
\And then Jude points our eyes forward: We live in hope, “waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” Each day, we live in expectation of His coming when His mercy will be revealed and eternal life will be ours in full. That waiting is not passive; it is active, lived in trust, love of neighbor, and faithful clinging to Jesus.
As Luther often preached, we are secure not in our works but in God’s promise. We are justified by grace through faith, and so we are not keeping ourselves by our own strength but by the power of the Holy Spirit, who works through Word and Sacrament. To “keep ourselves in the love of God” is to live day by day in repentance and faith, returning to the mercy God showed us in Baptism when He put His name on us.
The Lord’s Supper is also where God keeps us in the love of Christ, feeding us with His true body and blood, a foretaste of the eternal life for which we long and in which we wait. In these means of grace, God Himself keeps us in His love, assuring us of a mercy that will not fail.
Prayers
A Prayer for Today:
Dear Lord, let us never be out of Your love. When we are weak, make us mindful of Your power. When we are weary, let us raise our eyes to the mercy of Jesus, who brings life. Aid us to wait with faith, hope, and love, until we see You face to face. Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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