I John 2:28 “And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.”
When He Shall Appear
I remember when I was ten years old and my dad drove our truck and trailer from Jacksonville, FL, to Los Angeles, California. My mom and we kids flew a few days later to meet Dad in L.A. I was shocked when I saw him waiting for us in the airport with four days of facial hair! I had never seen him unshaven before in my life, and I just couldn’t get past it!
I was out of contact with my father for four days, so when we met at the airport in Los Angeles, I was caught off guard by his appearance. Often we think of Christ’s Second Coming like my experience at the airport. Christ’s coming will be an epic event, and there is no way to minimize that day. However, the event of His appearing should impact our lives in a real sense every day.
Christ ought to be appearing in your life every day before He appears in that day of His coming. That is your choice, not His. It is not merely a matter of “covering your bases” and “being a good Christian” so you won’t get in trouble when He comes. It is more a matter of familiarity; that is, if you know Him every day, when you finally see Him face to face, you won’t be ashamed.
Abide in Christ today. If you are seeing Him in your life today, you won’t be shocked if He appears tomorrow. Those who know Christ but barely talk to Him, listen to Him, or give Him the time of day will be shocked and ashamed when He appears. It does not have to be that way for you, my friend. When Christ appears at the appointed time, it will be bigger than anything you have experienced. But it shouldn’t be different.