“And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him. …”

1 John 2:28-29

Continuing in Him denotes our responsibility. We are to make the effort to be in the right frame of mind should the Lord return. Our spiritual walk with Him is confident and unashamed, because we are dwelling in His love and walking as Jesus walked. Confidence is based on righteousness and that comes from Christ. His righteousness is given to us and we accept it and live holy lives for His sake. Not loves full of self- righteousness and holier- than-though attitudes, but humble walking with God and knowing it is all of mercy and grace. 

“keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.”

Jude 1:21

Heaven waits for the righteous and every saint of God will arrive safely to their eternal home through the mercy of our Lord Jesus. He will bring us to that home because of what He has done for us. Our task is to keep ourselves in that love, loving Him and loving others as He loves. We keep ourselves by living in the Word of God, constantly throwing off the sin that so easily clings to us and keeping a short account with God. We are in prayer to the Father, to keep us and deliver us from all evil. 

“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

Peace is a mind thing. Perfect peace is in the mind and heart of those who think on Christ and see all that He has done as trustworthy. Our faith is in Him and we walk worthy because of Him.

How to continue in Him is our full- time job in Christ. Our minds become taken up with God, and experience great peace because we are resting in Him. We fill our minds with the good things of God and the things of this world have less and less hold over us. We find ourselves needing Him and other supports become less and less relevant. The issues of live become clearer as we read the Word and get to know our Saviour increasingly intimately. He becomes our true love and we stay in His presence. Prayer is our breath and we walk through our lives in its attitude and frame of reference.

“Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him, established in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:6-7

We walk the walk with Him and in His strength, and as we walk we are built up and our faith becomes stronger, so we look only to Him. The need for other people becomes less and God becomes more real. We stick more and more closely to the things of God and the doctrines of the faith. Our overriding state of mind is thankfulness. This thankfulness continues every day right to the end of our lives, or when Jesus returns for us. We will then be confident and secure at His coming and will be looking to the skies daily.