Confident and Unashamed

And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

1 John 2:28

A couple of weeks ago Dr. David Crosby at First Baptist New Orleans preached a sermon on God's love and he started off with this verse.

He asked the crowd,

"Do you have anything to be ashamed of?"

Um... well I don't know about you but I have plenty to be ashamed off in God's eyes.

In fact it overwhelms me when I try to think about all the ways I have ashamed him.

I wrote a blog post about a year ago on my goal in life, which was to enter heaven and have God greet me with the saying,

"Well done my good and faithful servant."

Obviously going along with him greeting me like that, I need to be prepared to greet him as well.

I want to walk into heaven and greet God confident and unashamed.

Confident in my salvation. No doubting, no worrying, no fear.

Unashamed by my sins committed on Earth.

Currently I feel like I am on the right track. I am confident in my salvation. I know he lives in my heart and without a doubt, I know my name is written in the Lambs book of life.

How confident are you?

Do you ever feel so ashamed by your actions on Earth that you feel like they might be unforgivable? That maybe you will walk into heaven and hear the most feared words of

"depart from me I never know you"?

If that's you, then you should read the story of when Jesus heals a Father's child who has an evil spirit in him in Mark Chapter 9. But pay extra attention to the Father's actions and remarks.

²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can! All things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!”

If you're not confident, just pray to God and tell him all your worries and fears. Tell him you need help in your unbelief. Many times our actions do not align with our words.  People say they believe in Jesus, go to church, and study their bible, but good actions do not make up for bad actions.  If you believe in your heart, then your actions should flow from your believing heart.  We will all continue to make mistakes, but we must strive to continue to follow Jesus.  To me this verse is saying, "Lord I believe in You; Help me to grow in my belief."

Many times Christians will doubt their faith.  I challenge anyone who is doubting their faith to grow in their belief in Christ.  Pray, "Lord help my unbelief."  Let your actions flow from Christ who is in your heart.  Study the bible, not to tell others, but to learn more about Jesus.  Go to church not to be seen, but to worship God.  In order to follow Christ you must know the Word.  Psalms 119:9-11, 

"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word.  With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart.  That I might not sin against You." 

 Store God's Word up in your heart that you may live right and grow in your belief in Christ Jesus. So that you may also enter heaven confident and unashamed! 

(P.S. I started this post but Chris finished it. I just couldn't get my point written across the way I wanted to. I believe Chris took my words and added to them a wonderful message.)