And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him.
1 John 2:28-29
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I sit back and think about everything involved in flowwing our Lord and it all just seems a little overwhelming. Thinking about who He is, what He is, His love for us, His call to us… and all of the implications of these things… Wow!
I don’t want to mess this all up!
Oh sure, I’m confident in forgiveness for sins, and I understand that He is loving, merciful and not interested in a “gotcha” moment, no that isn’t it at all; I don’t want to grieve Him or let Him down. In the text we’ve been looking at, John seems to sense the same kind of thing. He’s taken us through all of these amazing attributes, and he’s taken us through the facts of life in a spiritual battlefield, and now suddenly, he seems to take a little step back to survey the scene, and just as though he were reading my mind, he writes these two verses.
Wow! What do we do now? John’s answer is “continue in Him.” Yes, that’s right, continue in Him so that when He appears we may be confident and unscathed by this world of ours. By “continue in Him,” I think John means that we should simply keep on living in Christ’s image, as He taught us, doing what He did, following His Father’s purpose and not being distracted. We do know that He is righteous, so then, we do know that everyone who does right is born of Him. By “right,” John must mean that they do the things that He would do, so while Jesus is the Model for all of us to follow, when those around us follow His model, we have someone to show us the way when we are confused.
Wow! Once again, the answer is simple, if not always exactly easy.
Yes, dear reader, let’s just continue in Him…
Life Project Blog 
Reblogged this on Empowerment Moments Blog.
Amen! Beautiful inspirational post.
Thanks!
So glad your doing this one. And today brought to mind the simplicity of builders using a plumb line. One bit of string, one weight, some chalk dust. Perfect every time.
Nice analogy!
Reblogged this on janjoy52.
Reblogged this on Li'l Bit's Craft Corner and commented:
Your inspiration for the day.
John’s instruction here reminds me of Paul’s, (Eph 6:13-14) “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, TO STAND. Stand firm then, …”
Faithfulness! in mind, body, soul, and spirit.
Amen!
What a simple, lovely, trilogy of words… “Continue in Him”.
I sometimes think that’s the greatest challenge. It is one thing to “find” Him, (or be found by Him), and surrender with great fervor and enthusiasm. But then, there’s our “first fall”, our first “disappointment” (we think we disappoint Him)… we certainly disappoint ourselves, perhaps we disappoint others. We’re ashamed, embarrassed, tempted to flee and accept that we “failed”. But, through His grace and others who know Him well, we can get past that. Slowly we grow… then we think we KNOW… then we learn it’s so much bigger than that… then we start to get an inkling of how vast Infinite really is, and how small we really are. We love Him, we seek perfection, and the more Himlike we become, the more intensely we feel our faults and failures. It all starts to look hopeless.
Here’s the strongest temptation I know… to give up… to become a “ritual religious”, do what we’re supposed to do, and lose that “first love” we’ve been pursuing all our lives.
“Continue in Him”… don’t give up… don’t stop… because it’s not due to OUR strength or efforts… it is not just a trek “down a road alongside Him”… this is also a journey INTO Him… INTO His heart… INTO His mind. To KNOW (in the fully Biblical sense) God.
“Continue in Him”… because when we reach the end of our own strength, He then lifts us up and carries us the rest of the way… all the way to the finish of the race. It’s not a finish line on a track. It’s the Center of Him, the Middle of His Heart. When we feel with His heart and love, and see with His eyes.
“Continue in Him”… “Continue INTO Him”… because it is He who will bring us to the conclusion. Only He can.
Beautiful words! Grace — LM
Thanks, LM you have summed this up so well as usual. Yes, there’s only one think left for us to do in this life: Continue in Him!
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