September 26—A Pearl for Today
“And now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” (1 John 2:28).
SHAME ON YOU?
One morning before the kids had left for school, I realized something was amiss. Usually the very second our bedroom door would open, our dog Sasha, wiggling all over, would bound toward us, waiting for a word of greeting and a pat. That particular morning, I walked out into the hall to find Sasha lying flat, her head on her paws. As I got closer, she rolled over on her back, a sure sign of guilt. I started looking around for her indiscretion. Before I got very far, I heard some “ughs” and “yucks” coming from the kitchen. There was Bobby, our older son, picking up the contents of the garbage container Sasha had tipped over.
Whenever our children came running in the house waving their report cards, yelling, “Look what I made!” we knew all was well. If they sort of slid in with the cards in the bottom of their bags, we knew rough times were ahead.
Our delinquent dog, and at times, our children, shrunk away from us when they were ashamed of some action. 1 John 2:28, tells us when the Lord returns to take His children home, we may shrink away from Him, too. A hymn poses this question of the Lord’s return, “What if it were today?” Would it be a glad day if the Lord were to come today? If not, what must change for us to be able to meet the Lord with the confidence indicated in 1 John 2?
A missionary friend suffered a nearly fatal accident, but God spared his life. Still, just before losing consciousness following the collision, our friend’s panicky last thought was “Oh no, I didn’t have my devotions this morning!” As Christians, do we go bounding eagerly into our time of fellowship with the Lord? If not, why not?
Barbara Johnson asks in her newsletter, “If you were going to die soon and had only one phone call, whom would you call and what would you say? And why are you waiting?”
If the Lord came today would you meet Him with confidence?
Did you come eagerly to your devotional time this morning?
Are you ready to stand before the Lord?
If you answered no to any of the above questions, what needs to change? And why are you waiting?
When it comes to honoring the Lord—if not today, why not today?
