The electrical power went out in our apartment building the other night. The hallways were lit by generator but our rooms were utterly dark. Darkness like that can be disorienting and potentially dangerous. It can lead to stubbed toes, skinned shins, or worse, a fall with injury. It was a relief when the lights came on again.
On our walking pilgrimage through life, the New Testament tells us to avoid moral and spiritual darkness. Rather, we are instructed to walk in the light. The word picture of walking is a favorite metaphor of John the apostle. He wrote, “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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 purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7).
Here are two lifestyles, represented by darkness and light. One means to walk, or to live in sin, and the other is to walk, or to live in fellowship with God, who is righteous. This is possible only through faith in Jesus who shed his blood as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God is light.
This means that his nature is holy and perfect. In him there is nothing evil or false. When Israel was being forged as a nation, God led them by a pillar of fire on their forty-year walk through the wilderness. The light assured them of his holy presence and guided them (Exodus 13:21). This may be what informed John’s emphasis on walking in the light as a picture of Christian discipleship.
Christ is the light of the world.
Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12, 9:5). To walk in the light is to walk in fellowship with Jesus. “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” ( 1 John 2:6). If we remain in fellowship with Jesus, walking with him, we will reflect the light that comes from him. Jesus told his followers that they, too are the light of the world (Matthew 5:14).
God’s word is a light.
If we love the Lord we will “walk in obedience to his commands” (2 John 6). For us this means faithful adherence to the guidance of holy scripture. “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light for my path” (Psalm 119:105). The light of God’s revealed word scatters our darkness and illuminates the path of life before us. C.S. Lewis made this point when he said that we believe the sun has risen, not because we see it, but because by it we see everything else.
I am profoundly grateful for 1 John 1:7 because it tells me that I may walk in the light of fellowship with God and his Son. If I fail to stay in step with them and slip into darkness, I may confess my sin and know that the blood of Jesus cleanses me from all sin. As the light of God reveals my sin I may keep on appropriating the benefits of Christ’s death on the cross by repentance and faith.
It is an amazing and wonderful truth that the God who is light created us for fellowship with himself. Jesus has made this possible. His word is our guide to walking in the light. That’s walking with God.
Pastor Randy Faulkner