“And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.” 1 John 2:28
When reading through 1 John in my devotions, this verse just stopped me. A simple, short verse that is loaded with implications for our lives now.
While there are thousands upon thousands of narratives happening at once. There is one massive narrative that is hurtling faster and faster. The earth is in transition for the return of Christ. And the Father is preparing a bride to stand before Jesus, the groom, in all radiance, glory, and beauty. We are being prepared for the marriage supper of the lamb. While we could debate many of the details and timing of how and when this will happen. What one can’t argue about, is the reality that Jesus is coming back. The Lord wants us ready and walking in purity and holiness for this day.
What is the key to being ready? It is to continually abide in the presence of Jesus. We are to have a moment-by-moment abiding in him. We can’t abide by intellectually figuring this out. Neither can we abide by being an expert in the word of God, or every theological view. While all of those have their place in our Christian walk, this abiding is a moment-by-moment walking in the very presence of Jesus. This happens deep in our spirit where we are joined to him as one. (1 Cor 6:17)
The goal is that we would be ready for that day and be able to appear before Jesus with no shame, no blemish, but in complete confidence that we are holy, pure, and complete. That we have lived this life well, that we have made the most of every moment, that we have, as Paul writes, “Ran the race, and fought the good fight of faith.”
Herein lies our dilemma. We are broken and full of sin. We don’t abide in Jesus, instead we abide in the things of the world. We are full of shame and “don’t approach the Lord in confidence in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16)
The enemy also has a story and a narrative. He knows at some level how this is going to play out. He doesn’t want you living in victory and in confidence. He wants to actively pursue you, destroy your identity and destroy your calling. And the best way to do that is to lie to you about the Lord, get you caught up in sin, and then keep you full of shame so that you hide from God. When we are stuck in shame we will go to everything else but the Lord and then the spiral continues.
Jesus has “given us everything we need to live a life of godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). We have been given the divine nature of God to come and dwell in us. But we must learn to abide in Jesus. Every moment, every time we sin, every time we fall out of abiding, we can quickly turn our hearts back to Jesus. This takes practice and learning to tune to Jesus and his life. If we do that we will find that his life, his blood is ready to meet us every time. He will never turn you away. He will never reject you. Your sin hasn’t put you beyond the reach of the Lord. He is ready to accept you afresh today
Let’s brothers and sisters grow in our abiding. Let’s practice this continually so that we can one day stay in confidence with no shame and meet our Lord Jesus face to face. Let us as it says in Hebrews throw off everything that hinders us so that we can run the race.
In my last blog, I told you I would introduce and explain a tool I use to abide in Christ. Two-way journaling is a tool that has become invaluable to me over the years. We have all been given the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:). So why not ask him what’s on his mind? When I practice two-way journaling I first take time to be still and come into the Lord’s presence. Then I simply wait on the Lord and write down a question like “Jesus how do you feel about me?” Then I write from his perspective what he is saying in response to that question. I begin by saying “Dear child of mine…” and then just start writing his thoughts. Below is an example of my two-way journaling today.
My children, I am ready to meet you. I am ready to come and accept you fully. You have made abiding in me about work and duty. That is not what I am about. I want you to experience my presence, power, and purity. You do that when you come to me as a child and simply receive me. Where are you today? Do you feel distant from me? Do you feel that sin is blocking you from me? Do you feel you have gone too far? That simply isn’t true. I am right here waiting for you to come and meet me.
Come to me, let me heal you and speak to you. I am for you and want to simply renew your mind with my precious blood. All your shame and all your pain. I will heal and take that from you. Just continually come back to me and I will be tender and remove that from you.
