I just started going through the book of 1 John with my kids in Bible class this week, and today we talked a lot about 1 John 1:5-10. Specifically, we talked about walking in the light, instead of walking in darkness. John tells us 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.” (I John 1:5-7)
We talked about how “walking”, either in the light or in darkness, refers to our continual way of life, how we live day in and day out. I challenged my students to look at areas of their lives that are “in darkness”, areas where they are hiding, areas where they know they are not following after Jesus, but after the world.
And folks, I challenged myself. And I challenge you. Are we walking in the light? Are we lovers of the light? Or lovers of darkness? What areas of your life are you keeping in the dark? Why not bring them into the light? Why keep walking in darkness? Oh, the darkness comforts…for a time. It’s safe. It hides all our failures, mistakes, sins, etc. But the scary thing about this is that, the longer you’re in the darkness, the more comfortable you get in it. The longer you’re in the dark, the harder it gets to come into the light. And, as John tells us in the verses above, if we continually live in darkness (i.e. unconfessed sin), we lie and do not practice the truth.
So why not come into the light? Oh, it’ll sting at first, as your eyes adjust. Just like coming out of a dark room into a brightly-lit spring day. But you know what? You’ll adjust. After a bit, the sting will wear off. And then you’ll see life as it should be! Then you’ll see it the way you were meant to see it!
And you’ll realize the light is infinitely better than the darkness!
So walk in the light!
I’ll challenge you, just like I challenged my kids: read 1 John. It’s a small book, but it’s powerful (duh). Let the word dwell in you, and change you. You won’t regret it. Oh, it will probably (definitely!) sting a little! But it will be so worth it!
The Wading Pool 
You are so right. We get so comfortable in the dark that we don’t realize just what it is that we are missing. We settle for so much less. But it takes looking at ourselves for who we really are not what we delude ourselves into thinking. The truth hurts. But before we can come to the light we have to face our darkness.
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For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. – (James 1:23-24 ESV) – We need to continually examine ourselves in light of God’s standards not our standards. If we are not looking into the Word to read and understand those standards we forget and or rationalize our sins and we stumble in the darkness. “None are righteous no not one” Let the Word cut you. Let it transform you into the man God wants you to be.
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Ouch.
“Men loved the darkness because their deeds were evil.”
That surely can’t be me, can it? I mean, the stuff I hide is for noble, or “wise” or self-protective reasons, right? God understands that, doesn’t He?
Good word, my friend.
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