Maintain

I've been doing much thinking about lukewarmness and how to avoid it.

I am also thinking about the ten virgins and I want to be one of the wise ones,
who had sufficient oil to play their role in the wedding ceremony.

In a marriage,
the couple maintains their love
by adding fuel to their fire.
The fuel in a marriage is kindness and courtesy;
humility and grace; forgiveness and humor.

The fire should keep them both warm.

Too much cheap fuel and too much wind
can make the fire burn too quickly
and passions die out before the comfort
of a maintained fire can be experienced.

Add too little fuel and the fire goes out.

So it is with our relationship with Christ.
We don't want a big bonfire spurred on by too
much emotional spiritual zeal.
One cannot keep up the pace and eventually
exhaustion sets in and the fire goes out.

So, I am thinking about maintenance.

Webster says that maintenance means to keep in existence, to preserve, to keep in due condition, operation or force.

We want to keep our spiritual fires in due condition.
We want to preserve them from flaring up out of control
and from dying down to nothingness.

When I am thinking about something,
it seems like everything I read gives me an answer
to my ponderings.
Or, to say it in terms we are thinking about,
everything I read or hear,
gives me more fuel for a steady fire.

The other day, I read the whole book of Jude in one sitting.

Verse 20 reads like this:
"But you, beloved, building yourselves up in 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."

I was excited, because I realized that this was my answer to my questions:

"How do I keep enough oil in my lamp and storage vessel?
How do I keep from becoming lukewarm?
How do I overcome?
How do I keep my fire maintained?

Jude explains it in simple terms.

1-Build yourself up in your most holy faith.

If faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, then we build up our faith by reading, studying, and meditating on the Word of God.

2-Pray in the Holy Spirit.

Pray in your own language, prompted by the Holy Spirit, as in Romans 8:15, when our spirit cries out, "Abba, Father..."

Pray with groanings that cannot be uttered as referenced in Romans 8:26.

Pray in a tongue unknown to the one praying, as in 1 Cor. 14:4,14, and trust that even though you do not understand what you are praying, that the Holy Spirit is praying through your spirit the deep things of God.

3-Keep yourself in the love of God.

1 John 2:10 says that 'He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in Him.'
1 John 1:7 says that 'if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.'

I imagine the love of God being like a spotlight, shining down on me. When I leave that circle of light to be unloving to my 'brother', then I am not keeping myself in the light or love of God.

Keep yourself in that circle of love.

4-Look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

If we think we have worn out the mercy of Jesus,
it is hard not to feel guilty around Him.
And when we feel guilty around someone,
we tend to avoid them.

His mercies are new every morning.
Look for His mercy.
Receive His mercy.
Give His mercy.

The book of Jude holds a favorite prayer.

"Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling
and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Savior,
be glory and majesty,
dominion and power,
both now and forever.
Amen."

I think that if we keep ourselves in His love,
He will keep us from falling.

Instead of trying to avoid falling,
we should focus on keeping ourselves in His love.

To Him be glory forever and ever, Amen.