Walk in boldness
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him. 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.
-1 John 2:28-3:1a
This evening as I read through the above text for this Sunday’s message, I remembered an event that transpired just last week as Rebecca and I visited my parents down in Monterey. I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between the two, and was encouraged as I meditated on this passage.
We drove down to visit with my parents who were down in Monterey for a convention: my dad was working, and mom was just along for the ride. As we went, we ended up having lunch at a table with a bunch of men that are from the same hospital as my father. Specifically, they work for my father as he is their boss. As I sat at the table, I was perfectly comfortable and relaxed: I was dining with my father and mother. These men were dining with their boss. They weren’t living in fear or trembling at His sight (now that would be a funny sight), but they were in a different state of mind than I was. To them, he was their boss. To me, he was my father.
We can walk with Bold Confidence…we are now children of God
So often we approach God with a sense of shame and worry. Am I good enough to come to God with my problems? Am I worthy to approach a Holy and Just God? The truth is, you aren’t. Our sin causes us to be unworthy to approach a Holy God. The good news? God’s fatherly love for us is unquenchable: Though we deserve it not, He provided a way through Jesus for us to be made right. When we abide in Jesus, and are born again (through an act of faith in Jesus), we are made right in the sight of the father. Instantly, we move from a place of sinful and unworthy, to a place of Righteousness and Worth. That is not to say that we won’t need to make some changes to our lifestyles, but in the eyes of our Father, we are now His children.
So many of us walk in timidity. We quake and doubt weather we can be used by God for anything of substance. The truth is spending time with the Father, though it once might have led us to have fear and doubt, should now lead us to have confidence and boldness. In Jesus, we have been made sons and daughters of God. We don’t have to fear His presence, but instead can walk in boldness as we approach our Father God.
We are children of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We can walk in boldness: He accepts us not because of what we have done, but because of what Jesus did for us. God is for us, and not against us. Let us walk in the boldness of God’s great love for us.
In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
-1 John 4:9-10
