And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.

I can still feel the lump in my throat that rose up that day, when I crept out of my room and up to the kitchen to get another Fig Newton. My mother had said I couldn’t have any more before nap time. When she went upstairs to put my younger sister down for her nap, I decided it was safe to get one, anyway. I stuffed the cookie in my mouth and hurried for the stairs, but I was too slow. She caught me and asked if I had taken another cookie.

My mouth was too full of cookie to answer her, but I shook my head. No.

Her face was matter-of-fact.

“If you lie, you will always get in more trouble than if you tell the truth.”

When I think about standing before Jesus to account for all the things I’ve done, both good and bad, I can only imagine the size of the lump that might be in my throat. Just like the day I got caught with my mouth full of cookie, there won’t be any way to hide my motives, my weaknesses, my persistent, frustrating sins that seem to keep coming back again no matter how many times I turn away from them. I do feel ashamed, and were I face to face with Jesus, I would shrink from Him with tears in my eyes, just like I did that day on the stairs with my mother so long ago.

But there’s good news here! There’s grace for us. We don’t need to shrink from Jesus in shame, because we can abide in Him instead. We can allow Him to fill our hearts. We can fill our minds with His words. We can plant ourselves next to Him, as close as possible, and stay there. Abiding in Jesus gives us confidence because we know that through Him, we are justified . . . and when He comes, we will have nothing to fear.

What's your fear? Can you push past it today?

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Abbey Dupuy is a freelance writer and homeschooling mama to two-year-old twins, a first grader and a new baby. You can find out more about her here.