Shining the Light

 

DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER OF JOHN

SHINING THE LIGHT

 1 John 2:7-8

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

NIV

This gives us somewhat of a slight dilemma as to which John is referring to. Is he referring back to what he just said that whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked, or is John referring to what is he about to say regarding claiming to walk in the light but hating our brother? Yet, this could be about neither and John is inserting still another truth for us to ponder. First, we should consider what this old command he is talking about. Then, what is this new command that we have heard since the beginning? What we do know is that from the very beginning of time, or at least at creation, God’s desire was for man to love him with all his heart, his soul, his mind, and strength. God wanted to have pure fellowship with his creation, man. God desired that man love each other, to live in paradise and peace within his creation. This may well be the old command that we have heard from the beginning. This is the same message, or command that is a new command in the sense that the truth of that command is seen in Jesus and in working in us. Jesus made it clear the two greatest commands were to love the Lord with all our being and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Nothing new that was not already in place when he created us. However, this darkness that is passing and the true light is already shining makes it sound that we forgot about the old command, stepped out of the light and into the darkness. Well, that is exactly what Adam did when he disobeyed God. Just thinking that Adam and Eve had to witness one of their sons kill another of their sons, is darkness. That could not get much darker. This is why we might think John is referring to what he says next about claiming to be in the light but hating a brother. The darkness is in the world and we all have been called out of that darkness into the light of Jesus. John also makes it appear as though this passing of darkness and the true light is already shining is a process, in the sense, it takes time for all the darkness within us to pass. The fact is that if we are walking in the light that is already shining, there can be no darkness within. It has passed. Just because we continue to struggle with sin in some of the areas of our lives does not mean we are still walking in the darkness. In the darkness, there is no way to see our way, we are forever lost, in darkness, blind as it were, unable to see anything, even unable to see our sin. But, because the light is shining in our hearts and minds, we have sight, we can see the path of righteousness, we can see the finish line, we can see where we are walking and going, and we can also see our faults, and want the light to shine on them. So this new command is still the old command, and we still desire to love the Lord with our whole being, however, we still struggle with truly loving our neighbor as much as we should. Certainly, we do not hate them. Serving in the military is the reality of being willing to lay down our lives for our neighbor if called to do so. We understand that having served, yet it also carries this meaning that loving our neighbor means to not be selfish with our resources, mostly our time, or self. That seems to be generally lacking in our current culture of personal goals, ambitions, and desires, even within the community of faith. How do we get past that? How do we set aside our self, for our neighbor? How can we spend our time encouraging, strengthening, and exhorting our neighbor to walk in the light? It sure seems this is what John is doing in this letter, and maybe we can do that as well, in the sense of either through our words, spoken or written. Maybe we can let the light shine more through us.