Aside from Christianity, I do not know of any religion that will ask you to count the cost of your decision to believe in God. One thing that is clear with the bible is that it will ask you hard questions, you will be confronted with existential questions that will force you to make a choice. No one stays on the fence with the bible, you pick a side. The duality of sides the bible presents is God’s way vs the way of the world (or of the flesh). Reading the book of 1 John lately has emphasized the idea that a choice has to be made when you encounter the God of the bible, Jesus Christ. And that choice is made not just when you decide to follow him but as you walk with him daily. Indeed, following Jesus is an action that is clear and makes you different from the rest. Followers of Jesus have distinctive attributes about them: they act a certain way, their conduct may appear strange to the world as they will do things like forgive an offender, they share the same spirit that is the spirit of God and their allegiance is to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There is no ambiguity as to whose they are. We, believers in the Lord are called to be set apart just as our God is. With this premise, I would like to encourage us in our walk with the Lord to not be bothered by our peculiarity which may be upsetting to the world because our loyalty is to the Father and we are called to not be conformed to the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2).
In his first letter to the church, John establishes and reminds his audience of the fact that they have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus which purifies them from all of their sins. John begins by laying the foundation that when you are in Christ, you are a child of light because God is light. Therefore, you can no longer walk in darkness. He continues by explaining that walking in the light is similar with walking in the truth which is obedience to God’s commands, knowing him. Only those who obey God’s commands can claim to be walking in the light or even be children of light. As John says, “If anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him” (1 John 2:5). To make it practical for his audience, John tells us that anyone who hates his brother is still in darkness. In fact, says John, such a person “does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him” (1 John 2:11). The darkness as John sees it is synonymous with the world. Therefore, whoever lives according to the way of the world loves the world and lives in darkness. The way of the world is the way of the flesh with cravings of the sinful man which include the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does (1 John 2:16). Indeed, Paul gives us a detailed list of what is involved in the flesh in his letter to the Galatians in such terms: “The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: ‘sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery, idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like…’” (Galatians 5:19-21). These are all acts of darkness which children of light cannot be partaking in. Of course, even as redeemed creatures in Christ we will continue to sin, however, when that does happen, we will show remorse for sin and repent but what Paul and John are talking about is the case of those who continue in their sin and take pleasure in it, never showing signs of stopping or repenting, not thinking about the blood of the lamb that was shed on their behalf. Such people no longer care, they solely live for themselves to satisfy their selfish desires. However, for those that live in the light and do sin, John reminds us that we have an advocate before the Father, Jesus-Christ, the Righteous One who is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and the sins of the world (1 John 2:1-2). All we need to do is receive the forgiveness that is offered through the blood of Jesus, repent of our sins and accept the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf. As we do that, we also believe that we are no longer condemned and we can “go and sin no more” as our sin is not counted against us. Truly, the accusations of the evil one should not put us down because we know we have been forgiven completely.
Therefore, the life of the follower of Christ is a life of repentance, a life lived to please Jesus, a life of truth, a life of the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, self-control, patience, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23). It is a life of all that God delights in, a life that emulates Christ richly. This life is a costly life, it demands your all, it demands that you kill your flesh daily which involves your personal desires, desires that in themselves may not be wrong but on the contrary quite noble yet the will of God and your love for God will take precedence over those desires. In other words, you will die to yourself so that Christ can be exalted through your life. Moreover, this life of living in the light is a life where actions back statements or beliefs. For example, if you claim to be in the light, you ought to love your brother. Anyone who sees you abusing your brother can easily decipher whether or not you are walking in the light. Such an act would condemn you or be used as a judgement against you. The logical question is then how do we ensure we remain in the light? The response? By abiding in Jesus, the true vine (John 15:4). Abiding in Jesus means to anchor ourselves in Jesus, to be totally dependent on him, it means to not have a plan B, it means to hold on to whatever he says in his word, it means to love him. In fact the more we learn about him, get to know him, listen to him, pray to him, sing to him the more our affections for him will grow and so will our intimacy.
Walking in the light is completely opposite to walking in the darkness. Therefore, we who are children of light should no longer hide our light, we should stop camouflaging to blend in with the world. We are not of the world. We should not be ashamed of our new identity, it was given to us freely yet it was bought at a high price, the life of the One and Only Son of God. Therefore let us not cheapen the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, let us not by our actions act as though Christ’s sacrifice was in vain. I pray the Lord stirs in us the desire to obey Him above anything or anyone and may we each learn to put together practical steps to remain in the light. Amen.
A Word Aptly Spoken 