Living in the Light
Today’s Scripture: 1 John 1:5-10
Key Verse: 1 John 1:7
But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Here is a crude illustration of today’s lesson. Think about a cleaning product that advertises spectacular results. Most of us at times have been disappointed in the results of many of those products. But consider a product that works exactly as advertised when you use it according to its instructions. The only time this product would disappoint a customer was when they did not follow its instructions.
John is telling us, in our Key Verse for today, that God cleanses our lives of all sin… all, not just a few. There are no exceptions, and no disappointment when it comes to this cleansing.
However, the one clear instruction is that we “live in the light”! As I have noted in earlier devotions, “light” is a symbol of God’s truth. If we do not live out God’s truth, then there is no cleansing that takes place in us! I hope this convinces you how important it is that we all understand exactly how to live in the light of God.
The entirety of God’s truth cannot be known until we get to heaven. God, recognizing our human limitations, opens our eyes to His truth little by little as we live in this world. Since God hands out His truth to us at a slow pace, He never holds us accountable for truth that He has yet to be reveal to us.
Moreover, God understands that we are all different in our ability to understand His truth, so he treats all of us individually. He judges us accordingly.
How do we know that we are “walking in the light”? The answer boils down to this statement: “Are you living out all the truth that you are aware of at this moment?”.
This does not mean that you perfectly obey God’s truth every moment of every day because we all mess up at times. But even in our failures, we can still want to follow God’s truth and never stop trying to live it out every day of our lives. If this is true for you, then God cleanses you of your sin.
Also, you can enjoy fellowship with other believers that are living in the light God has given them.
First John 1:7 starts with two small words that have a big implication: “but if”. The implication is that some Christ-followers may not be walking in all the light that God has given them. This calls for us to closely examine our hearts and our minds.
Father, please help me see what you see in me. Show me any truth that I am ignoring. I want to live in all the light that you give me. I ask this in Jesus’s Name, amen.