“Light Living”

Scripture:

1 John 1:5-6
God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all.
So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God
But go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. (NLT)

Observation:

When we surrender our lives over to the care and control of the LORD and invite His Holy Spirit to live in our hearts, He sheds His Light upon the world around us so we can truly see the darkness it embraces and the utter hopelessness it offers (John 12:46). Just as light and darkness cannot share the same time and place, neither can we live in God’s Light while embracing the darkness of this world.

Application:

The apostle John goes on to tell us this: “Stop loving this evil world and all that it offers you, for when you love the world, you show that you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only the lust for physical pleasure, the lust for everything we see, and pride in our possessions. These are not from the Father. They are from this evil world. And this world is fading away, along with everything it craves” (1 John 2:13-17). It is certainly not sinful to enjoy the good things that God has given us to enjoy, but where we go wrong is when we begin to lust after those things and make them a priority over our Lord and Creator. Our sinful nature craves after the sensuous pleasures that are a result of Satan’s clever handy work throughout the ages and many unsuspecting souls are sucked into believing that if it feels good it is okay to do it. Whenever we deny the holiness of God and all that He stands for we are living in spiritual darkness, and will easily fall prey to the kind of worldly pleasures that will not only wreak havoc in our lives but the darkness it brings will, one day, consume us forever. But when we strive for God’s light living we become better equipped and are able to see the Truth, so we can escape the consequences that living in darkness brings. But we must be on guard, my dear friends, for it can be so easy (thanks to Satan) to be convinced that we are living in God’s light when, in fact, we are really living to satisfy our selfish desires first rather than pleasing God. It is so important in our sanctification process that we do not compromise our commitment to God by taking pleasure in the worldly things that pull us into darkness and away from God. We cannot expect God’s approval or help it we continue living in sin and darkness (Romans 8:7-8). Our Living God must come first in our lives, for He will not accept being anything less. It is either God’s Way or the highway. You are either with Him or against Him. There can be no grey area when it comes to living in the Light! You are either in or you are not!

Prayer:

Please help us, O LORD, to remain alert so that we can discern Your Truth from that of this dark and wicked world. Help us remain strong in You, so that You can keep us from being sucked into the dark and evil lies of Your enemies that bring dire consequences. Thank You for loving us enough to save us from ourselves and certain banishment from Your Holy Presence.

Amen