First John Chapter One
1: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
2:(For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
3:That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.
4: And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
5: This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6: If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
8: If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10: If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
I love John's writings. It seems the disciple who was closer to Jesus than them all knew the very heart of God. After all, while all the other disciples were busy doing other things John spent his time with his head on Jesus' chest listening to his heart. It makes me wonder what Jesus taught him privately in whispers that the others never heard. So it's in his writings that I found myself today meditating about walking in the light and embracing the light.
We spend so much time these days criticizing the evil in the world and focusing on all the darkness around us. We are wasting time looking at our faults and weaknesses. Our very lives become unfruitful because we can't see past ourselves and walk in what God has planned for us to do.
I believe that God has a better way of fighting the darkness. It's called embracing the light. The scriptures listed above tell us that if we walk in the light as He is in the light then we have fellowship with him. Isn't it obvious that He knows that there is darkness in our lives? He understands what we are walking in and that we are in a dark world. Instead of focusing on the sin, the scriptures say that if we just admit that sin is in our lives and walk in His light that His blood will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The only way to put out the dark is to turn on the light.
Verse 5 says that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we abide in Him we abide in this light and His light will drive all darkness from our lives. That's the only way we'll ever prevail over the sin in our lives. We will never win the battle with sin by fighting the sin. We will only win when we admit the sin is there and walk in the light. This lets the power of His light drive the evil from our lives.
So now comes the big question. How do we walk in this light? The answer is found in Chapter 2 in these verses beginning with verse 8.
8: Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
9: He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10: He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him. 11: But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
Could it really be that simple? After all the years we've tried all the doom and gloom and crying and begging and fasting and praying to get sin out of our lives; Could it be as simple as loving your brother? But that's what it says doesn't it? He that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
Isn't that just like our loving Father? He made it simple for his children to walk in light by walking in love with each other. What an awesome and wise Father we have! We can embrace Him and embrace the light by walking in love with each other. As we embrace the light and walk in love then all the darkness will begin to flee from our lives. The blood of Jesus will cleanse us of all unrighteousness and bring us into perfect fellowship with our Father and with Jesus our Lord. Oh the riches of His grace and His love!
So now I send out this to all who will hear. Let's love one another and put aside our petty differences. Let's walk in love and in the light and we can all walk in perfect fellowship with heaven. What a glorious church we are going to be when we learn to love each other!
I hope you find encouragement in these words.
Until next time,
Grow rich in His grace,
I love you all,
michael
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