28 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.
This verse struck an amazing visual in my mind tonight. One of my favorite times of the day is when I come home from work and my daughter runs to me, smiling, happy to see me, and throws her arms around me or says "Daddy, pick me up!". If I could bottle that moment, I could NEVER get enough of it. The converse of that situation is when your child knows they have done wrong. Their eyes avoid yours, they hide from you, the look on their face brings heartache to know that they are so upset.
This is exactly the type of thing that John is talking about in 1 John 2;28. WHEN Christ returns, don't you want to be able to run to Him with great joy and express your love and your happiness? The last thing I want to do WHEN Christ returns is to hang my head in shame, and slink away. I don't want to disappoint Him, I want Him to have the same Joy that I have when my daughter welcomes me home. I want to have the same kind of joy my daughter has when I come home when He returns. I desperately want to hear the words "Well done my good and faithful servant".
We must abide in Him, seek after Him daily, spend time in His word, Talk to Him in prayer. It is much like maintaining any human relationship, it requires interest, communication, contact, and an agape type love. When this is so, we have confidence because we KNOW and are KNOWN by Him. I'm longing for the day when I can run to the Father and yell "Daddy, pick me up!".
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