Called, loved and kept
Do words ever give you pause? Today three words stopped me. Those three words are called, loved and kept. I’ve been reading the book of Jude. I’ll read, journal, close it and then come back to it to read it again.
And this evening as I sit here reading it again, I seriously cannot get past verse one.
The first chapter of Jude
Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and a brother of James: To those who are the called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.
Jude 1:1
He calls himself a slave of Jesus Christ. He’s been captured. His heart, his mind, his entire life. Captured by the One who loves him more than anyone ever could. But that’s not even what has me hooked. It’s what he calls us. He says, “to those who are called, loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ.”
What does called mean?
It means to give something a name. We are both called and loved by God. He gave us a name. He calls us His children. He says we are joint heirs with Christ. He calls us His. Whew. That is overwhelming.
He calls us His because He loves us. He does
The Creator of the universe, the Maker of heaven and earth loves us more than we can fathom. How do I know?
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
It’s something we can’t fathom.
What does kept mean?
Then…Jude said we are kept by Christ. The word kept here means to attend to carefully, take care of, to guard, to keep, to observe and to reserve. Jesus keeps us. He attends carefully to us, observing us, guarding us, taking care of us…reserving us for His kingdom. Wow. See?
Guard yourself
Jude goes on to caution us to guard ourselves as we contend for our faith. And if we understand who we are…if we really grasp that we are called, loved and kept by God Himself…we will do everything we can to ensure our heart and our faith is well guarded and fought for.
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