Light vs Dark

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice 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 cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

-1st John 1:5-10 (ESV)

If you were presenting the Gospel to an unbeliever in the supermarket, and they asked for a good place to start in the Bible, where they could learn about what it means to be a Christian, what passage would you give them? To most of us, the first passage that comes to mind is John 3:16.  However, that verse is only half of the picture, and I have known of too many people who’s lives (and ultimately, eternal future) were ruined because they thought that John 3:16 was the whole message of the Gospel.  It is not enough to know that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,”  ”even the demons believe that – and tremble!” (Ja 2:19).  We must do more than believe in the fact that God exists and sent His son, we must allow that truth to work an amazing change in us.  We must walk in the light, as He is in the light.  ”The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” only if we “have fellowship with him” and “confess our sins.”  Only then will He be “faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

I think that too often, we lose sight of this.  The redemptive power of Christ is never present without the transformative power of the Holy Spirit.  Works alone cannot save us, but our works are a neccessary outward manifestation of an inward reality.  We are not truly transformed if it does not strongly impact every single thing we do.  If we think that we are saved, we need to look at our lives and see if there is any evidence that that is the case.  We need to think: is there any difference between how we go about our daily life and how an unbeliever goes about theirs?  Do we think the same way? Work the same way? Walk the same way? Eat? Drink? “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10:31) Too many people think that “being saved” means saying a prayer, reading their Bible regularly and going to church.  But while those who are saved do all those things, that is not what salvation is about.  We are born into sin.  We are depraved.  All we do is motivated by ultimately selfish desires.  We are damned to spend eternity burning in Hell.  But God saved us.  He didn’t just inspire us to go to church once a week.  He changed who we ARE.

I honestly don’t know how to express this.  There is simply no way to convey through words how big of a transformation has taken place.  We are not the same person.  We are a different soul that has expelled the previous owner of our body.  Every single thing we do now revolves around glorifying God and enjoying Him forever.  Our chains are gone, we have been set FREE!  Mere font on a screen cannot describe this.  It cannot express the overwhelming love we have for God and for each other that permeates our lives, our souls and everything we do in every day. In fact, my efforts to describe it are so futile, I am going to close this post and let you simply ponder on the fact that God created us, He loves us, He sent His only Son to die a horrible death for us, and we owe Him every second of every minute of every day of our lives.

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