July 15

keep yourselves in the love of God as you await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you eternal life. — Jude 1:21 BSB

When Christ is revealed to our soul by the power of God, we gain a view of truth, happiness, and deliverance in him. “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.” We receive him as the Son of the Father in truth and love; we receive him as perfectly suited to our needs and sorrows; we receive him as the one who put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, drawing our hearts to him through the sweet revelation of his Person, goodness, and love. As long as Christ and the soul are united, there is no room for error or evil. He makes the soul tender, the heart upright, the spirit broken and contrite; he makes truth precious, error detestable, and sin loathsome. While he and the soul are in communion, error has no access, nor can evil find a foothold in the heart.

But error is subtle. It appeals to our reasoning, and when we lose sight of Christ, error can easily creep in. If not error, then some particular sin or ungodliness may begin to gain power, causing us to gradually fall away from the strength of faith, the confidence of hope, and the warmth of love. We may even slip into a cold, carnal, careless, and lifeless state, leaving us vulnerable to error and to Satan’s deceptions.

But Jude gives us a warning: “Keep yourselves in the love of God.” He tells us how to do it: “Build yourselves up on your most holy faith.” God has laid a foundation for our faith in his holy Word, and he has laid Christ as a foundation in our souls. That foundation is strong, immovable, and capable of bearing any burden. So if we want a faith that will stand, we must build upon this foundation. Any religion or part of our religion that rests on any other foundation will not endure. But if we build upon our most holy faith, then everything we build will stand because it is in harmony with the foundation and grounded in Christ.