Remain in God’s Love

What does it mean to love God?

How can we remain in God’s love?

How will God, reward those who remain in His love?

Picture yourself walking along a road on a stormy day. The sky becomes darker. Lightning starts to flash, thunder booms, then rain falls in torrents. You hurry along, desperately looking for a refuge. There, by the roadside, you see a shelter. It is sturdy, dry, and inviting place!

We are living in stormy times. World conditions are going from bad to worse. But there is a secure shelter, a refuge that can keep us safe from permanent harm. What is it? Note what the Bible teaches: “I will say to God: ‘You are my refuge and my strength, my God, in whom I will trust’” (Psalm 91:2).

Imagine that! God, the Creator and Sovereign of the universe, can be our protective refuge. He can keep us safe, for He is far more powerful than anyone or anything that may come against us. Even if we are harmed, God can undo all the bad effects. How can we make God our refuge? We need to trust in Him. Furthermore, God’s word urges us: “Keep yourselves in God’s love” (Judge 21). Yes, we need to remain in God’s love, maintaining a loving bond with our heavenly Father.

But how can we form such a bond?

Recognize and respond to God’s love.

To remain in God’s love, we need to appreciate how God has shown His love for us. God sent His Son as a gift. And what does that gift mean to us? It gives us hope for a wonderful future. Our hope for the future also depends on something else that God has done.

Draw ever closer to God

Learning about God is a vital step in drawing closer to Him. It is a process that should never stop. If you were outside on a very cold night warming yourself by a fire, would you let the flames dwindle and then die out? No. You would keep adding fuel to the fire to keep it burning bright and hot. Your very life might be at stake! As wood fuels a fire, so “the very knowledge of God” keeps our love for God strong (Prov 2:1-5).

Find joy in your worship

Personal Bible study and prayer are acts of worship that we may carry out in private. Now, however, let us consider an aspect of worship that we carry out publicly: speak to others about our beliefs, sharing some Bible truths. In doing this we are enjoying a wonderful privilege (Luke 1:74). When we share the truths we have learned about God, we are taking up a very important assignment given to all Christians – that of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom (Matt 24:24; 28:19,20).

Reach out for the real life

God rewards His faithful servants with life, but life of what kind? Well, are you really living now? Most of us would say that the answer is obvious. After all, we breathe, we eat and we drink. Surely we must be living. And in our happier moments, we may even say, “Now this is really living!” However the Bible indicates that in an important sense, no human today is really living. God’s word urges us to “get a firm hold on the real life” (1 Tim 6:19). Those words indicate that ‘the real life’ is something that will be alive in the fullest sense of the word, for we will be living as God originally intended us to live.

Let us pray to God to help us to do the hard right than the easy wrong. Amen.

Bro Calvin Chitano (Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe)