The Apostle John refers to his readers in the Epistle of 1st John as Fathers, young men, or children. He uses those terms to describe his readers’ spiritual maturity levels, and he writes to encourage spiritual growth and the means to making that happen. One of the principles that I use to motivate myself to do the things that cause growth is in 1 John 2:28, “Now, 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.” l anticipate every day, all day long that His coming is imminent, and what I will feel like when I see Him and see His eyes looking at me. I can’t imagine how Peter felt when Jesus made eye contact with him right after Peter denied knowing Jesus for the third time. Luke 22:61 “The Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how He had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny Me three times.”

I remember the shame I felt when my Dad gave me a list of things to do on the farm before he left on a four-day trip, and when he got home, I had only completed half of them, not because they were hard but because I had not managed my time well and had snow skied with my friends too much.
When I was a kid, we used to get a big Montgomery Ward catalog every year; there wasn’t much you couldn’t buy out of that catalog. When we got the new one, we used the old one for toilet paper in our outhouse. One time, I was looking at the catalog section with women’s underwear for sale, and my mother walked up behind me. I don’t remember what she said, but I remember that it was several weeks before I could make eye contact with her and not feel ashamed.

The first time I make eye contact with Jesus, I want to see glory and joy. I think about that all day long as I acknowledge in my self-talk that He sees me now, hears all that I speak, and knows all that I think.