Darkness and Light


1 John 1:5-2:2
1That 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— 2the 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— 3that 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. 4And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. 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. 2:1My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

I confess that in my role as a cynic, I don’t often believe what I’m told. My experience is that people like to exaggerate, embellish and flat out lie when they are passing along information. This lack of trust in others is not a character trait of which I am proud. But it is one that I am finding terribly difficult to shake. Then the words of this passage ring through my ears and the problems of a culture that is short on truth become crystal clear. What we know is that we worship a God who tolerates absolutely nothing that is false. Jesus called Satan the father of lies (John 8:44 - "He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.") and the lines between God and evil are sharply drawn. One wonders if the memory this conversation was playing through John's mind as he wrote the words of our study for today.

John’s words in this first chapter of his Epistle are completely clear. There are two directions you can go, toward truth or toward lies. And I think that we must be aware of the fact that there is no middle ground here. There are no shades of grey. There is truth and there are lies. There are no good lies and there are no half-truths. As humans, we love to quibble about the truth but that is not where God lives. Truth is light and lies are darkness.
Walking in Darkness
Walking in His Light
walk in darkness / lying
walk in the light / fellowship & forgiveness
say we have no sin / self-deception
confess our sins / cleansed & forgiven
say we have not sinned / call God a liar
Christ has paid for our sin
The Good News for today is that Jesus is ONLY light. In Him there is found no darkness and no lies. There are no half-truths or hidden agendas with the Lord Jesus. This is pure comfort for us, for in that light there is also forgiveness. On a daily and practical basis, this also means we too have no dealings with the darkness. One of the easiest examples I have of this are “secret meetings” or dealings that exclude people who are generally a part of the collective. Anything that needs to be hidden has its roots in evil. That seems like a blanket statement that can’t possibly be practical, but for the most part, I believe it to be true. God is pure truth and if we walk with Him, we walk in the light of that truth. It is a worthy goal, striving to always walk in truth. This is Jesus' example to us and one we can strive to emulate.

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