²⁸Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. ²⁹If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.

John’s propensity to call us, his readers, “little children” speaks to our need to constantly be learning and continue coming to Jesus in childlike faith. This letter is a reminder of what John’s readers already know, a challenge to keep their faith simple and continue to abide in Christ (see his fuller description of this in chapter 15 of the Gospel of John).

The old adage, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good,” emphasized that we need to live out our faith in practical ways. However, we must be careful not to let the pendulum swing too far in that direction. Popular Christian thought today seems to emphasize the “here and now,” not eternal life after death. Eschatology (that is, what we believe about the future) affects how we live now, and we need to know and trust what the Bible says about what is to come. These truths provide an anchor, a reference point for our decisions and how we live our lives. Just as an anchor thrown overboard secures the boat from drifting, so also our anticipation of our Lord’s return confidently anchors us in our efforts to live for Him.

So the study of end times, when the Lord returns for us, is one of the most important motivators in the Christian life. He is coming back; that is His promise. This truth was always fresh in John’s mind, and he included it in the Upper Room discourse when Jesus said,

“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” (John 14:2–3)

The thrill of seeing the Lord coming for us keeps us from shrinking from telling others of Him and living for Him wholeheartedly. When He does come back, all our life will then be a history of how much we truly believed in His return. Then we will see clearly what we can only take by faith now.

This belief in the return of Christ is what sets the true believer apart from pseudo-believers. Our desire to live righteously comes not out of fear of His return and judgment but out of great anticipation of the perfectly righteous One. As Peter put it, we have been “born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3).

Lord, I can hardly wait for You to come. Please come quickly (Rev. 22:20).