He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

His name was Ernie, and I knew him many years ago when I was first in the ministry. I tended to make the same mistake with Ernie. When I saw him I asked him how he was keeping. His rather dour reply, in a thick Liverpudlian accent was, ‘I’m not keeping brother, I’m being kept!’

We have seen in the opening verses that we are set apart to belong to Jesus and called to live holy lives. Thankfully, we don’t have to do this in our own strength or we would fail. We rely on the keeping power of God.