Confidence at His Coming
1 John 2:28–29
Now, little children, remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
World English Bible
Two employees hear the same announcement: the owner returns tomorrow. One feels a jolt of joy: she has tended the place as if he never left. The other feels his stomach drop and starts frantically tidying what years of neglect have piled up. Same news, opposite reactions. The difference isn’t the owner. It’s how they’ve been living.
That is the scene John sets in two short verses: “remain in him, that when he appears, we may have boldness and not be ashamed before him at his coming.” Jesus is coming back. John states it as plainly as a train schedule. And the question he presses isn’t when, the question that fills prophecy conferences. It’s the one that should fill our ordinary Tuesdays: when He appears, will seeing His face be the best moment of your existence, or an exposure?
Notice the word John chooses: boldness. Confidence, free speech, the ease of a child running to a returning father. And notice what produces it. Not perfection. Not frantic last-minute tidying. Abiding. The person who has made their home in Christ (confessing sin as it comes, walking in the light, loving the brothers) has nothing to brace for at His appearing, because His appearing interrupts nothing. It completes everything. Shame belongs to those living a double life; boldness belongs to those living a single one.
Then John grounds it all in family resemblance: “If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.” Children bear their Father’s likeness, and you recognize who belongs to the family by watching how they live. Practicing righteousness doesn’t earn the family name; it is the family resemblance showing, the visible evidence of a life truly born of God and remaining in Him.
So let His return do its quiet work on today. Not as a deadline that terrifies, but as a homecoming that focuses. Every honest confession, every act of unseen obedience, every choice to abide is preparing you for that meeting. Live today so that His appearing would change nothing, except making everything complete.
Reflect
- If Jesus appeared this evening, what is the first thing in my life I would instinctively want to hide, and why am I keeping it?
- Does the thought of His return function in my heart as a homecoming or a deadline, and what does that reveal about how I’m living?
- Is righteousness something I practice (a regular, deliberate rhythm) or something I admire from a distance?
Pray
Thank Jesus that He is truly coming back, and ask Him to make that hope vivid rather than vague. Name before Him the one thing you’d want to hide at His appearing, and deal with it in confession today instead of at His coming. Ask for the steady grace to abide, so His return would interrupt nothing and complete everything.