Title: Keep Yourself in God's Love
Jude 1:17-25
Unlike those who follow lust, believers must build themselves on holy faith, pray in the Holy Spirit, and keep themselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of Christ. In the end, Jesus Christ will protect the saints, keep them from stumbling, and make them stand blameless and rejoicing before their glory.
There is no clear standard that can distinguish the natural person from Christians as 'there is no Holy Spirit'.
Who is the Holy Spirit? God is in each person. The Christian life is no longer personal, but united by God in them. To the extent that God in each person is indivisible, Christians who have God are essentially incapable of living in a 'partisan'. And just as God cannot mock Himself, so God in each person does not allow mockery among brothers.
To easily summarize the above two types of people, those who do not have the Holy Spirit are 'those who live according to their own taste'. Christians who have the Holy Spirit are 'those who live a life pleasing to the heart of the Holy Spirit.' The lives of those who live according to lust and those who live on the grace of God are so markedly different.
Judas gives various counsel to the saints who have become men of the Holy Spirit, and at the same time tells what their true form should be in verses 20-21. Among them, the most important is 'to keep oneself in the love of God'. It is refusing to dwell in lust and living in the love God has shown for us. The original Greek text of verses 20-21 uses the imperative form for the word to keep oneself in the love of God, and the rest of the exhortations use the participle form to describe additional actions to carry out this command. This can be said to teach more concretely what the saints should do to protect themselves in God's love. what do they look like?
The first is to build oneself on the most holy faith. The expression 'most holy faith' means that the faith we have is not the faith that comes from within us, but the 'God-given faith'. As stated in verse 3, it refers to the faith that God has given to the saints once and for all. The moment that faith is given, the Christian meets God. You will come to 'recognize' God, which you could not feel or realize before. In this sense, building oneself on the most holy faith is 'living a life that always recognizes God and a life that responds to God who reveals oneself every day'.
The second is to pray in the Spirit (or in the Spirit). Those who do not have the Spirit live only in the flesh, hoping for what the flesh desires. But Christians are those who hope for the hope of the Holy Spirit in them. To pray 'in the Spirit' is to move the realm of my thoughts from the flesh to the Spirit. I confess with my mouth what the Spirit asks by giving up the desires of the flesh and entering into the mind and person of the Holy Spirit who dwells in me, making the thoughts of the Holy Spirit my thoughts. Without the Word of God this is impossible. Because God has put your thoughts into the Bible through the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of your truth.
The third is to wait for the mercy of Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. We are those who live by the grace of the Lord. The grace of the Lord is not something to be worn once. It will lead to eternal life. Those who keep themselves in God's love are those who always hope to receive God's grace after all. Verses 22-23 teach us how to practice waiting for mercy, but not only passively, but actively. When we show mercy to our brothers, we can feel God's mercy in our hearts. This is not just a level of pity for the brother. It means accepting your brother's doubts, helping him overcome hardships, and admonishing him even if he is possessed by lust.
If this is what I am and what my life should be... Holy Spirit who dwells in me! Reveal yourself fully in me, hiding the thoughts of my flesh, and let me always be the channel through which your life is revealed.
* Prayer: Thank you, Lord. Thank you for reminding me of how different the lives of those who do not have the Holy Spirit are from those who have the Holy Spirit. From whom can I beg for love, leaving the arms of the Lord's love? Give me strength to keep me in your love. Praise the Lord, who promised to raise me blameless on a glorious day. Even though I look humble now, I am confident that the Lord is able to protect me and keep me from falling. Thank you and I pray in Jesus name. Amen.