Passage of the Day: 1st John 1: 7 [see highlight verse in bold and underlined] … 5 This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.6 If we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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, purifies us from all sin. 8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
My Journal for Today: Again, as we’ve seen thus far in my studies this month (as above in 1st John 1: 5), one aspect of God’s character is light (i.e., truth from His holiness). In 2nd Peter 1: 3 – 4, a passage to which I refer often in teaching or ministry, the Spirit-inspired Apostle, Peter, makes it clear that the Spirit implantation of God’s character in the heart of the born-again Christian gives the believer all he/she needs to walk away from sin and into a way of life reflective of the light of Christ. In this way, surrendered Christians [and I emphasize the word “surrendered”], as they (we) mature, become habitual bearers of God’s light, which produces two distinct benefits.
The first of these character positives is an intimate and abiding fellowship with Christ. In today’s verse [see bolded and underlined above], the phrase “one another” refers to a mutual fellowship with God, which results as we walk in the path of God’s light – together as Christians. That unified walk, of course, is Christ’s church, i.e., His Bride, joining in togetherness, to shine their collective light into a very dark world.
As MacArthur puts it, from today’s Strength for Today devotional, “Believers share a common life with God, experience His presence through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and commune with Him through prayer and meditation on His word.” Hence, we should see that the way we experience the light of Christ in our walk in this darkened world is to do all we can to deepen the intimacy of our fellowship with Christ individually as Christians and then together as His Church. And I think you can see that this would mean determined, disciplined, and diligent devotional time spent daily in God’s word and in prayer … every day and as often as we can choose to do so.
Secondly, Christians experience cleansing from sin by the blood shed by Jesus for sinners. Again, from John MacArthur, “… walking in the light does not earn forgiveness; rather, forgiveness is freely granted to those who walk in the light.” And, as we’ll see when we delve into 1st John 1: 9, the only way we, as Christians, can walk as “children of the light” is to regularly and completely confess our sin, being cleansed by Christ’s blood, so that we can follow the mandate of Christ, Himself, who commanded us to shine His light into the world so that others can see our good works and glorify God, the Father (see Matt. 5: 16).
My Prayer Today: Shine, Jesus, shine! Amen
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment