Keep yourselves in God's love

The title for this blog comes from Jude 21.  The apostle Paul clearly communicated in I Corinthians 13 that if we do not have love we are nothing.  Jesus answered the question of what is the most important commandment by saying to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love one another.  If this is true and it is then the admonition of Jude is essential to our development of being a genuine follower of Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  Then we must be able to answer the question then of how do we keep ourselves in God's love?  Before I answer that question lets make it clear that there is an assumption being made which is I must be in God's love first in order to keep it.  The only way to be in God's love is to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior and then live my life in such a manner that it demonstrates that Jesus is my Lord.  John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son to died on the cross for my sins and all I have to do is to trust Jesus as my Savior and believe in Him.  This foundational and must be in place before we can have a discussion of how to keep ourselves in His love.  First, remember that loving God is not about a religion but it is all about a personal intimate relationship with God.  This is what the church of Ephesus begin to lose and in Revelation two they were encouraged to return to their first love.  It is about a relationship not a religion.  Second, to stay in God's love I must worship God in spirit and in truth.  Being passionate in our worship is vital to keep ourselves in His love.  Third, I must be about the things that please the heart of God.  The most important of this is God's desire to see all people come to a saving understanding of Jesus.  Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world.  We are all called to be His witnesses.  Fourth, I must spend time with God in a variety of ways.  Read the Bible, praying, meditating on God's Word, quiet time of allowing Him to speak to us, thanksgiving, worship and being with God's people.  On a human level we desire to spend time with those we love and if I am going to stay in God's love I must spend time with Him.  I am sure others could easily add to this list but this is my top four things to do to keep in God's love.
May the love of God be with us in all that we do.

Pastor John