Living Before An Audience Of One: 1 John 2:28–3:3

28 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

To abide in Christ is to live in Him. His purpose and our relationship with Him are the priorities of our lives. If we will live in Christ, when He returns we can have confidence and not be ashamed. Jesus Christ is coming back again. On that day we want to have confidence in our relationship with Him and not be ashamed.

29 If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

The greatest indicator of new birth is new life. When we become followers of Jesus Christ the focus and conduct of our life should change. A righteous lifestyle is a great indication of a person who is following the Righteous One.

3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.

“Behold” carries the idea that something has come among us that is totally foreign to us. God’s kind of love is foreign to a fallen world. That love has made God’s former enemies His children. As followers of Jesus we shouldn’t seek the approval of the world. If the world rejects and scorns us it is actually an indicator that we do not belong to this world but belong to Christ and the world to come. This doesn’t mean we try to be obnoxious to the world but that as we live in Christ, we will not necessarily win approval with the world, even as Jesus Christ was rejected by this world.

2 Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

As followers of Jesus Christ, the best is yet to come. The fullness of our redemption and the revelation of who we will be, will come at the return of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus has been resurrected with a glorified body, so will we.

3 And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.

An eager anticipation of the imminent return of Jesus Christ keeps us living a pure and holy life in the middle of a fallen and impure world. This hope enables us to live before an audience of One.