The weather had turned colder. Wind could be heard outside the old house, as drafts of chilling air crept in between the ancient boards. The wallpaper did its level best to keep the cold out and the warm in, but it was feeling its age. Three young moms, each with babies to care for, were trying to keep the little ones warm but the threadbare blankets were not up to the task.   The time had come. Decisions had to be made. Although this humble abode had so little to offer, it had been a place to call “home.”
With a brief exchange of words, the moms began to pack their few possessions. With scarcely a look back, babies held close in their arms, bags over their shoulders, strollers squeaking their way along, they began the trek to a warmer place. Before nightfall, they found a familiar location …. a place that they had frequented in the past … with the comforts of heat and safety. Carefully, they tucked their little ones into beds … and rested.
These moms were not talked about on the evening news. No … these loving mommas were our little girls, many years ago … caring for their baby dolls.
Yes … we lived in a drafty, old home. During the warmer months, they would set up house on the west side of our home, in a corner behind a recliner chair. There they would care so lovingly for their babies. Then … as regularly as the geese fly south … they would “migrate” to the east side of the house when the westerly winds would sneak in through the old walls. I never was privy to the discussion. I would just see a small cluster of mini-moms caravanning across the house, bags over shoulders, clutching babies … and watch them settle into their new, warm home, located behind a chair in the dining room.
Come travel with me … back in time … to a place in the Roman Empire several decades after Jesus rose from the dead. Walk quietly … shhh…. There! See that man over there writing a letter? That’s Jude. He’s writing a letter to those who called themselves “Christians” or Christ-followers. Although he really wanted to just write to them all about the wonders of salvation through Jesus, he felt compelled to write about concerns that he had for them. After pleading with them to “contend for the faith”, he wraps up his letter with these profound, instructive words…
“…keep yourselves in God’s love…” Jude 21
Wait. What was that? I thought God’s love is everywhere. I though God IS love. I thought that God’s love was unconditional. I thought since God is all-powerful, that He will keep me in His love. Yes, yes, yes and yes.
However, here Jude … well, actually, God, since He authored the Bible using different writers … instructs us to “KEEP” our selves in God’s love.
On the days when we just don’t see God moving at all … when we’ve prayed until we feel like we have nothing more to say, and the heavens are silent … when the phone call comes and the news knocks us to our knees … when the winds of anxiety and fears of the future are blowing through our minds, day and night … when the the icy fingers of loneliness wrap around our heart and squeeze the breath out of us … when the crushing pain of a broken heart threatens to devour our last thread of joy … when the demands of a Monday morning require more strength than we have to pull ourselves out of bed … yes, on those days and every day… we need to hush the winds of despair and defeat … and listen to the loving voice of our Father … “keep yourselves in God’s love.”
Those little mommas had something figured out that many of us adults have a hard time comprehending. When it feels like life is coming at us with gale force winds and taking our breath away, we need to take action. Intentionally. Resolutely. Sometimes sacrificially. We need to keep ourselves in the center of God’s love. Yes, that might mean moving away from what was comfortable at one time. But more than anything, it means focusing on the love of a God who gave the greatest gift ever given … the gift of His Son … for you. As you open your Bible and spend time listening to His voice speaking to you … and spend time in prayer, talking out your heart in submission, honesty and worship to Him … then you will find that you will “keep yourselves in God’s love.”
Are you feeling the chill in the air? Grab your bags … and let’s go. God’s love is there for you.
“Dear Loving Father … I come to you. I want to stay in the center of Your love. I bring to you all the chilling winds of defeat and despair … and exchange them for the warmth of Your loving embrace. Hold me close. Captivate my heart with thoughts of Your infinite love. In the sweet Name of Jesus …
This blessed me. 🙂
Ruth, Your words so eloquently written from your heart and the heart of God encourage me to believe for better things this day, in a nation fractured with hate, must keep ourselves in God’s love. I’d like to share this to encourage others.