Confidence or Shame?

I John 2:28-29 And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

I'm going to get straight to the point on this one. Far too many people want to proclaim salvation by grace, and get upset when they are told, or read, that there are works that go along with our salvation. I am not talking about works done in order to be saved. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, we can do to earn eternal life. God told us in the Book of Isaiah that all our works of righteousness are like filthy rags to Him. However, we are told in Ephesians that we were created unto good works, even before we were born. James tells us that without works, our faith is a dead faith. Jesus told us that if we love Him, the evidence of that love is clearly seen in our obedience to His commandments (love God and love people). That means that we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. The righteousness that makes us acceptable to the Father is not our righteousness, but Jesus' righteousness imputed on us. We live a righteous life when we live a life of obedience to God's Word. Note that I did not say a perfect life. Only Jesus lived a perfect life. We can strive to live a life that honors God by the way we live it out for His glory, and how we love and treat others. The Christian life is not a stagnant life that leans on grace and then does whatever it wants. No, the Christian life is one lived with the anticipation that Jesus could return at any moment; and therefore we want to live it in such a way that if He returned right this very moment we would not be ashamed of what we would be caught doing when that trumpet sounds. So, my question to all of us is this, "If Jesus came back for His church today, would we have confidence in the way we are living or would we be ashamed?"

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive His free gift of salvation today (Romans 10:13).