Keep Yourselves in the Love of God

"Keep Yourselves in the Love of God"

(Jude) 

“Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:2-3).

Jude started his epistle with these scriptures. He stated that he had intended to write about “common salvation,” but instead felt a strong need to write and exhort us to “earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” This faith being the same faith that Jesus Christ and His apostles taught, and the same faith that we now can find at the true church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So, how can we multiply mercy, peace, and love and contend for our faith? In 2 Peter we read “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Peter 1:2). Our mercy, peace, and love can increase as we get to know the Lord, and our Savior. As we create a relationship with them, we follow the word of God, and we are blessed for it. As we can see Jude found it important to tell us to seek to be blessed with these things, but he also found it vital to encourage us to “contend for the faith” that Christ taught, and that we can now find at the LDS church. We can appropriately “contend for [this] faith,” by going to church, keeping the commandments, living righteously, being good examples, and persevering till the end.

Like the times of old, no matter what we will continue to face false teachers who are seeking to destroy our faith and testimony. We are warned to not heed to their false doctrines, or else we will fall, which can cause us our eternal damnation. Jude urges us to avoid the evils that often come from false teachers. He tells us to remember the “words which were spoken” by the apostles of Jesus Christ (Jude 1:17). He counsels us to build ourselves sure foundations through faith, prayer, and the Holy Ghost (Jude 1:20). Lastly he advised to “keep [ourselves] in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life” (Jude 1:21).  

What a great counsel from Jude. No wonder he decided to prioritize this principle because being a prophet of God, he knew the trials that church members back then, and church members today would be facing. It is crucial for us to follow his counsel and the counsel of our prophets today, and that we stay close to God, so that we may prosper, and one-day return to live with Him.