Light and Darkness

Today, part of my daily Scripture reading was 1 John 1. I do hope you'll read it. It begins thus:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

What a punch this has! Jesus IS eternal life. He is God made flesh to show his glory to man to save him! And John proclaims Jesus to people he's not with - and that results in a mystical bond, a friendship, a camaraderie, a love between not only the people - but with God himself.

And that - being in the presence of God the Father and of God the Son with our brothers and sisters in Christ through the Holy Spirit - THAT brings us to fulness of happiness.

Let's look at the message of Jesus as recorded by John. Again, this is God's word. Don't skim it.

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

If we're with God in the light, we're truth-tellers, we enjoy the camaraderie of God's Church, and Jesus' blood cleanses us.

But what's this 'light' vs. 'dark' business? Should we just assume we know what it means?

Perhaps this will help us understand the passage.

Darkness is associated with judgment from God, a lack of understanding, the bringing of fear, and gloom. And even Satan. It is associated with hiding one's actions - sinning.

Light is associated with grace from God, wisdom, righteousness, truth and confession, trust in God, the LORD himself, Jesus himself, and the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus.

How'd I get that? Click here.

Now, that helps, doesn't it?

To be in the light... what's it mean? To trust Jesus. To cling to Jesus. To love Jesus, delight in Jesus, and to obey Jesus.

It means to be vitally, vibrantly connected to the life-giver, our creator, Jesus, the Son of the living God.

And if we are, as the song says, we have mystic, sweet communion with Jesus and his people; we have forgiveness of sins; we have eternal life!

Now, I should state, this isn't about wavering between dark and light based on our actions. It's about who we are. It's the gospel. Come to the Light of the World! He will justify you. He will cleanse you. He will be your delight and your joy and your loving King!



Wow. Praise the LORD!