I John 2:28
Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
If Christ were to come back today, what would He have to say about your life? If He was to walk into your room and sit on your bed, would you be ashamed of what was hanging on the walls? If He were to go to school with you, would He be surprised by what He saw of your interactions with people throughout the day?
The truth is that Christ knows and sees all that we do throughout the day even though we can’t feel His physical presence. He goes with us to school and hears the conversations we have with the people we’re trying to impress. He comes home with you and watches the things you watch on TV, look at on the computer and read about in your magazines.
We are commanded to pursue lives of goodness and dedication for two reasons:
First, we are to pursue holiness in order to bring honor and glory to God on this earth. In Ephesians 4:30, we are instructed, “Do no grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” The Holy Spirit is our intercessor before God. The Holy Spirit also helps us understand Scripture, grow in our faith, and guards our actions. As with a teacher or a mentor, we are to honor all that the Holy Spirit has done for us by pursuing lives of purity and excellence.
Second, we are to pursue holiness in order to bring honor to God on the day of redemption when all of the events of our life are played back for us and we are forced to give an account of all that we did.
So often people hear that their salvation is by faith, not works, and they forget that the works part of salvation has to do with sanctification. Upon our acceptance of God’s plan of salvation, the Holy Spirit is sent to us to work on sanctification in our lives. Through sanctification, God works in our hearts to weed out sin and work toward holiness with the eventual picture being a heart like Christ.
God has given us the Holy Spirit, the Scriptures and the church body to train ourselves and grow in our faith so that “when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame…” So my question to you today is, what would your reaction be if Christ came back today? Would you run boldly to His arms or would you shrink away hoping He doesn’t notice what you have done with the life He has given you?
I don’t believe that heaven is far from us. We don’t know the day or time of Christ’s coming and we also don’t know the day or time that our life will be taken from us (death is never far from us). Consider these things as you make your daily choices today. Ask yourself, does this bring honor to the God I serve or will it grieve the Holy Spirit? The goodness of our God and the hope of our salvation should drive us toward lives of holiness.