Consider the common direction, “Begin with the end in mind”.   In other words, a future eventuality is a present catalyst for the here and now.  It shapes how we live out today, in the realization of what we will experience tomorrow.

It shows up for the young child, who dreams about “What do you want to be when you grow up?” and then plays around as that character from toddler years and onward, until it’s not deemed appropriate to go to school in his superman outfit…or for the young athlete who is taught to close their eyes and visualize the end goal of making that free throw with no time on the clock and the score tied or the base hit with 2 outs, the score tied and the bases loaded…or the college student who must take certain subjects in order to reach the end goal of an accomplished major completed and job received…or even the adult who seeks to save or invest a certain amount in order to have X dollars upon which to live in retirement…

And it shows up for the mature Christian in this passage,

1 John 2:28-29, who should thus live with an end goal of meeting Christ one day…such that they are bold and not ashamed.  This day will happen, whether we long for it as Paul did, or forget about it as the average person John warned us about in 1 John 2:15-16 who gets wrapped up in the desires of the world, or deny it, like the non-Christian who will unfortunately realize their beliefs had catastrophic results to their detriment.  The good news is that for the believer, we can have confidence, not shame, as we look forward to that glorious day when Christ shall return for His own.

Rev. Darol Timberlake