By Elias Aslaksen This means precisely: I do not love Him if I do not keep His commandments. According to these trustworthy words, spoken by Jesus Himself, almost no one from among those who call themselves Christian loves Jesus. Loving Jesus in spirit and in truth means loving His Word so much that we adjust our life to it in every single detail. Then we love the others as Jesus loved us. John 13:14. Then we let the sun rise over the others, even though they are unthankful, unpleasant, and evil. Matt. 5:45-47. Then we lend to those who are in need, without expecting to receive anything in return. Luke 6:34. Then we are not anxious for anything at all. Matt. 6:34; Phil. 4:6. Then we do not gather up treasures on earth but rather in heaven, by giving, helping, and serving the others. Matt. 6:19-20. Then we do not love money and the things we can buy with money. Matt. 6:24. Then we seek God’s kingdom first. Matt. 6:33. Then we definitely do not judge (criticize) others because Jesus strictly forbade us to do that. Matt. 7:1; Rom. 2:1. Then we pray, we seek, and we knock—in order to come to a divine life. Matt. 7:7. Then we do to others as we would want them to do to us. Matt. 7:12. Then we enter through the strait gate and walk on the narrow way. Then we learn from Jesus how to be meek and humble of heart, and then we find rest from everything and everyone, irrespective of what they are saying and doing. Matt. 11:28-29. Then we become peaceable, merciful, and pure in heart. Matt. 5:7-9. Then, when we truly love Him with all our heart, with everything that is in us, we rejoice when we are reviled and persecuted, but not otherwise; only if we love Him, the beloved Son of God! It is definitely shameful not to love Him! In the deepest sense, everything that can possibly be said is said with these words!

Jesus relates the parable of a widow who kept troubling the judge who feared neither God nor man. In the end the judge was afraid that she would weary him, and so he helped her to obtain justice. This is an example of how we are to cry out to God for help against our adversary day and night. Luke 18. However, Jesus poses this question: Will He find real faith on the earth when He comes? When Jude was writing his epistle, he had to exhort them to contend earnestly for the faith which was delivered to the saints. For certain men had crept in who had turned the grace of God into licentiousness. Jesus came with grace and truth. John 1:17. We read further in Jude’s epistle about the resultant horrible state, because of this false grace, and the same state exists in our days. We know the word: “Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” Rom. 5:20. Many believers find comfort in these words: if they sin grace is more than sufficient to cover everything; but they do not read verse 21 where it says “so grace might reign.” This misrepresentation of grace was not unknown to the apostles. Rom. 6:1-2, 14-15. However, grace for the purpose of victory is something that is unknown to most people. They have lost the faith that was once delivered to the saints. Peter and Silvanus wrote to exhort and testify that they were standing in the true grace; therefore they could also exhort them to grow in grace. 1 Pet. 5:12; 2 Pet. 1:1-2. Further on we read what they could obtain by means of this true grace. We read in Jude 20-21, “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.” Jesus would not have become our Savior if He had come out of love while He hung on the cross. This also applies to us. We read further in Jude’s epistle what they could do if they built themselves up on their most holy faith and kept themselves in love. “And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.” Matt. 24:12-13. We can see that we cannot be servants of the Lord if our love grows cold. When difficult times come, such people are eliminated from being servants of the Lord because they come out of love. Only those who abide in grace have power to be servants of the Lord in their time. Matt. 5:44-48.Sigurd Bratlie