Building, praying, keeping and looking
But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life (Jude 20-21).
Jude gives us a lot to think about in these two verses. First, he affectionately encourages us to build ourselves up on our most holy faith. I have a series of exercises I do each morning to ensure that I don’t lose mobility in my advancing years. If I miss a few days, the workouts seem that much harder. Building up needs commitment. Jude describes our faith as “most holy”. It is founded in Christ, and it brought us into all the blessings we have in Him. We must never take it for granted, but be committed to growing in it. In his final address to the Ephesian elders, Paul commends them to “God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up” (Acts 20:32). Jude, however, emphasises our responsibility for our own spiritual well-being.
Secondly, Jude encourages us to pray in the Holy Spirit. We must not overcomplicate these words. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is to glorify Christ in our hearts and lives. Praying in the Holy Spirit is to be led to pray for those things that glorify Christ in our hearts and empower us to faithfully follow and serve Him. The Spirit of God will always take us in the right direction (Acts 16:6-10). Our prayers should be guided by the One who “makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27). In this way we discover the mind of Christ and the blessing of God.
Thirdly, we are to keep ourselves in the love of God. This means that we are always to be conscious of God’s love resting upon us and persuaded that we cannot be separated from “the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). This assurance is given by the word of God and the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit pours the love of God into our hearts (Romans 5:5). When our grandchildren were young, we often took them to the seaside. They never tired of going to the sea to fill their buckets. The sea was vast, and no matter how many times they filled their tiny buckets, it never got smaller. But the delight and pleasure they got from their buckets full of seawater ensured they went back to the source again and again. So it is with us. As we enjoy and draw on God’s love, it fills our hearts and overflows in witness to the God of all grace.
Finally, we look for “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”. The blessings of faith in Christ are not confined to the present, but embrace the future. Our “citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). God, in Christ, reached down to us in all the richness of His mercy (Ephesians 2:4). That work of salvation will be fully accomplished when by that same rich mercy Christ will take His own out of the world to bring them into the Father’s house, and our home, in heaven (John 14:1-3). Jude encourages us to live in anticipation of that day and never cease to build ourselves up in Christ, pray in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, and keep ourselves in the love of God.
