Walking in the Light

As I was reading my Bible this morning, I kept thinking about the reality of living in this world filled with paradox.  It is our home; but it is not our home.  It is filled with joy; it is filled with sorrow.  It is beautiful.  It is very, very ugly.  


Evil is present, and it will not be totally removed from this world until the close of the age.  One only has to look at roadside bombs in Afghanistan, or at G8 riots in Toronto, or at a murdered young woman in London, or at a deceitful spouse who promises yet again that he will change.


In Matthew 13 we read,

The Parable of the Net

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at the close of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous 50  and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place  there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

 Notice that the good fish and the bad fish are gathered together.  They live together before the gathering at the close of the age.  This is the same as in the Parable of the Weeds, where the weeds are allowed to grow up with the wheat.  The plants may look similar at the beginning, but come harvest time, the weeds are separated from the wheat and bound in bundles to be burned, while the wheat is gathered into the barn.


We Christians live in this world, right alongside those who care nothing for Christ.  We live together, we work together, we laugh together, we play together.  Sometimes there isn't much to indicate that we're different from one another.  At the end of the age, we'll know.  God will separate the good fish from the bad fish, the weeds from the wheat.  

1 Cor. 8:3 says, "If anyone loves God, he is known by God."

God knows His people.  And His people walk with Him, every step of the way.

1 John 1: 5b God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin.

So, what is walking in the light?


It's an awareness that you are living "Coram Deo", before the face of God.  It's a settled certainty that everything that ever happens to you is filtered through His gracious hand, for your good and for His glory.  It's a desire to keep in step with the Spirit, to reflect His perfection in this human sphere by teaching the truth and living a holy life.  Walking in the light means that your life will be different - not sinless - but vulnerably honest.  There's an admitting of sinfulness and a desire to live a life of purity.  There is no deception.  


Walking in the light means that you will have deep fellowship with God, as well as deep (and deepening) fellowship with your fellow human beings.  There'll be a progressive cleansing from all sin, as we confess and He forgives, and we grow more righteous as we learn to shun evil.


Walking in the light means there'll be a desire for change and an acknowledgement that change is impossible without a work of God.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Walk in the light with me.  It's so much more satisfying than walking in darkness.


Ask me how I know.