The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, and majestic in his radiant splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in 1 John 2:28,
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.”
John encourages us in our "continuing" in Jesus Christ. Our continuing demonstrates that we belong to Jesus Christ. The “antichrists” that John refers to in verse 19 demonstrated they never belonged to the fellowship of believers by leaving the community of faith. Their failure to continue in Jesus Christ proved they did not belong to Jesus Christ.
Such is often the way with those who make a profession of faith for whatever reason, but fail to actually embrace Jesus Christ in faith. Never having experienced salvation, they often abandon apostolic orthodoxy and go their own way into some apostate form of doctrine or simply drop Christianity altogether. Such are the ones who have left legitimate churches to start the many cults and “isms” we see in our day. John here is telling us to make sure our salvation is certain by verifying we remain in the faith.
The persistence of true believers, due to the responsibility the Lord has taken on himself, is a tremendous cause for my fascination and adoration of our Lord. Who knows what would become of me if left to my own devices?
As Jude tells us, it is the Lord who keeps us, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…”! Jude 24. And in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 we read, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” The very faithfulness of our God is what keeps us “strong to the end”.
As Jude points out, God will present us before himself without fault and with great joy! Paul points to the blameless condition we will all find ourselves in when we appear before him! Some of us who have been persistently stubborn have found themselves prematurely appearing before him as the believers spoken of in 1 Corinthians 11:30. I may stray for a time, but the faithfulness of God insures I will always return to him – one way or another!
John encourages us in our "continuing" in Jesus Christ. Our continuing demonstrates that we belong to Jesus Christ. The “antichrists” that John refers to in verse 19 demonstrated they never belonged to the fellowship of believers by leaving the community of faith. Their failure to continue in Jesus Christ proved they did not belong to Jesus Christ.
Such is often the way with those who make a profession of faith for whatever reason, but fail to actually embrace Jesus Christ in faith. Never having experienced salvation, they often abandon apostolic orthodoxy and go their own way into some apostate form of doctrine or simply drop Christianity altogether. Such are the ones who have left legitimate churches to start the many cults and “isms” we see in our day. John here is telling us to make sure our salvation is certain by verifying we remain in the faith.
The persistence of true believers, due to the responsibility the Lord has taken on himself, is a tremendous cause for my fascination and adoration of our Lord. Who knows what would become of me if left to my own devices?
As Jude tells us, it is the Lord who keeps us, “To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy…”! Jude 24. And in 1 Corinthians 1:8-9 we read, “He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.” The very faithfulness of our God is what keeps us “strong to the end”.
As Jude points out, God will present us before himself without fault and with great joy! Paul points to the blameless condition we will all find ourselves in when we appear before him! Some of us who have been persistently stubborn have found themselves prematurely appearing before him as the believers spoken of in 1 Corinthians 11:30. I may stray for a time, but the faithfulness of God insures I will always return to him – one way or another!
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment