Walking in The Light
Image via Wikipedia
1 John 1:5-10:
5This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7But 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. 8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
We discussed this passage of scripture a little in prayer Wednesday night. I have been thinking about it ever since. There is some wonderful, liberating, truth here.
Verse 5 says that God is light and in Him there is no darkness. It goes on to say in verse 6 that if we walk in darkness, we are not practicing the truth and we are liars. Seems pretty harsh, but John is getting ready to pop the top on something wonderful!
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 cleanses us from ALL sin. The key is walking in the light (which we established that God is the light). If we skip to verse 10 for a second, the scripture tells us if we say we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and His word is not in us.
When we walk in the light, the light (God) exposes our darkness (sin). If there is no light (His truth), then we walk in darkness (sin) and we do not have fellowship with each other and His truth can’t be in us. In order for us to see our sin (darkness) we must walk in His light. The greatness of this comes in verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God knows we are sinners. His light exposes our darkness, but it is the fact that the light opens our eyes to see our sin, and also opens our eyes to what Christ did on the cross. Now, because of what He did, we can walk in the grace that His death bought for us! That allows us to approach God, confess our sin, and to be cleansed from ALL sin! Thank you Jesus!
When we refuse to confess our sin, and try to hide the darkness inside us; when we conceal our sin like Adam and Eve tried to cover their naked bodies, we are not allowing His truth to set us free, or receive His forgiveness in our lives.
Let’s walk in the light today. Let’s not be ashamed, but walk in the truth that in fact we are spectacular sinners, but we have been saved by a spectacular God and we no longer have to walk in shame, but know we are forgiven because of Jesus Christ and His sacrifice.
Kevin
The Pitfall of Folly
1 Samuel 4 (English Standard Version)
Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines. They encamped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines encamped at Aphek. 2)The Philistines drew up in line against Israel, and when the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men on the field of battle. 3) And when the troops came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.” 4) So the people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God………………..
10) So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for there fell of Israel thirty thousand foot soldiers. 11)And the ark of God was captured, and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
This is such a crazy story. These elders should have been fired, or stoned to death or something. With elders like these, who needs enemies? Here we have Israel who just suffered a defeat at the hands of the Philistines. They immediately came to the conclusion that God was not happy with Israel about something. Did the elders repent or seek God to find out what the problem was? No, of course not! That would have made too much sense. Is that not like us? We can see there are problems and yet we find other reasons for why bad things happen in our lives, or why we aren’t where we want to be spiritually, or why our marriages are a mess, or our kids don’t listen. After all, isn’t it someone else’s fault? This is folly in all its glory!
Just like in this story, the folly of the elders not looking at themselves led to even greater folly. I sincerely believe if those elders had sought the Lord and looked at what they were doing, they would have repented of whatever they were doing, and thirty-thousand men would not have had to die, and the ark of the covenant would not have been captured, and they would have had the victory. Instead of doing this, they decide to dishonor God all the more by taking the ark, the very prescense of God, possibly not even carried on the shoulders of the priests (which is required by the Law of Moses), accompanied by the two sons of the high priest Eli, whom the prophet Samuel prophesied God would punish for blaspheming God!
There are things that aren’t blatant sin, but they are not good decisions. These actions are folly, or foolishness. For example, a person is diagnosed with high blood pressure. The doctor prescribes medicine to help control it. The person decides not to take it cause they don’t like taking pills. That is folly, or foolishness. There are those who have been corrected about certain things they are doing at work by bosses, things at home by spouses, things in their spiritual lives at church and yet rather than listen, they choose to continue doing what they are doing. The book of Proverbs says a lot about folly:
Proverbs 26:11 (English Standard Version)
11) Like a dog that returns to his vomit
is a fool who repeats his folly
Proverbs 5:23
23) He dies for lack of discipline,
and because of his great folly he is led astray.
Proverbs 17:12
12) Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs
rather than a fool in his folly.
Folly is a lot like sin. It can be just as much of a bondage as sin. It can be a never-ending cycle that can destroy your life!! If you trust in Christ, and you are a part of a local body of believers, He has placed people in your life to help you recognize the folly and sin in your life. What you choose to do in response is a choice you have to make. Many will turn right back to their folly, like the dog returns to its vomit.
Proverbs 19:3
3When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin,
his heart rages against the LORD.
Unchecked folly will lead to bitterness toward God. Despite the fact that God has warned you and tried to reveal your folly to you, there are those who will blame God for the problems in their life. They will blame their families, They will blame their friends, but in the end, the only one to blame is ourselves. We are responsible for our actions. Fools will never look in a mirror, will never be accountable, will never repent or turn away from our folly.
Not everyone is living in sin, but everyone has behaviors, habits, and things in their life that need to be exposed that we need to repent and turn away from. The question is whether or not you will alow God to expose and help you to turn away from your folly. We all have to ask ourselves that question.
Kevin
