DEVOTION
THE 1ST LETTER OF JOHN
IN THE LIGHT
1 John 1:5-7
5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is
light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship
with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But
if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one
another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
NIV
John is making sure we know that what he is telling is it directly from
Jesus. He is not giving his opinion or interpretation of the truth, but simply
is referring us to the words of Jesus. There is absolutely no grey area at all
in God, not wiggle room about the fact that God is light and there is no
darkness, no grey area whatsoever, in him. This is why we too such have a
black and white attitude about the truth. We should believe it all as the
certified truth or disbelief it all as made up lies. We cannot believe one
aspect of God and not believe in another aspect of God, and that correlates directly
to his word. We either believe the whole of the Bible, or we don’t. We cannot
cherry-pick just portions, or say that some parts are a grey area. God is light
and there is no darkness in him at all. So then if we claim to believe, to be
in fellowship with God, with pure light and walk in darkness, John is saying
that we lie and we do not live by the truth. This is that grey area. Either we
believe or we don’t, either we live by the truth or we don’t, we cannot live partially
in the light, accepting only parts of the truth to live by. What this looks
like may be seen in denominationalism. Some believe in the truth while others
believe that part of the scripture has faded away, or was only for past times
and is no longer relevant to today. How can we make that determination and not
be in a grey area, being based on opinion rather than truth, or our opinion of
the truth? So then we must walk in the light, all the way in the light. Walking
in the light, having the whole truth to live by, we are in fellowship with God
and with one another. When we walk in the light that also means our sins are seen, they are exposed to the light and in being seen, by God, being seen that our
sin has been washed in the blood of Jesus, we are purified from all our sin. If
we, however, want to remain in the darkness, or even in that grey zone, we may
not be purified, we are not in fellowship with the truth or with one another. So
we must walk in the light, the full light of Jesus. We would never return to
the darkness, that is walking in pure sin, living to sin, without concern about
God. We will continue to live in His light and remain in Christ, having been
cleansed, purified, and living by the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the
truth, so help us, God.
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