Monday
I John 1.5 “This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.”
Light dispels darkness; light illuminates our surroundings and is a beacon from which we get our bearings. Light exposes the truth and the reality around us. Light shows us who we are and where we are. Light is also essential for life and its energies, and is the source and resources of all that lives. God is light. John is not making a scientific observation. He is declaring the holy love of God revealed in the coming of Jesus, the Light and Life of the world. Christians are and must be children of light if they are children of God. The final loyalty of the Christian soul is to Christ, the light of God.
Tuesday
1 John 1.6 “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out of the truth.”
John understands there is often a mismatch between what any one of us claims and the realities of how we live. To walk in the darkness is to live in a way that contradicts the ways of Jesus; it is to think, act and speak by values other than those of the Kingdom of God. When that happens we are living a lie. To have fellowship with the God who is light, is to be transparent to the gaze of God, and to live with integrity amongst others as a reliable witness to the love of God. Sincerity, integrity, consistency of character – these are the permanent, visible and verifiable hallmarks of those who walk in the light of God’s grace and truth.
Wednesday
1 John 1.7 “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.”
The best interpretation of this verse comes from John himself: “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (John 3.19-21) At a time when truth is trashed in the public square, the Christian calling is “to walk in the light as He is in the light.”
Thursday
1 John 1.7 “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.”
The Christian community is a fellowship of light, not so much a like-minded as light-guided people. The Church is the fellowship of the forgiven, an incendiary fellowship of love, a gathering of grace-touched and grace-transformed sinners. John was writing to resist the mistaken view that Christians can reach spiritual perfection. Not so. Time and again, throughout our lives, in our struggle against sin and to be faithful to the truth and light of Jesus, “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Friday
1 John 1.8 “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”
Always the temptation is to think of ourselves as better than we are. Mind you, there is also the temptation to think of ourselves as worse than we are. The pride that thinks we’re beyond those sins that really matter, is closely related to the despair that thinks our sins matter so much they are beyond forgiveness. Both are sins of self-deceit, because neither takes the blood of Jesus, and the full meaning of the Cross seriously. John is as blunt as a good pastor needs to be. None of us are so good we need never ask again for mercy and cleansing; and none of us are so bad that we put ourselves beyond the God of holy love who gives “grace to help in time of need.”
Saturday
1 John 1.9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
To confess is to stand in the light and own what is there to be seen. John the pastor knows the deep and crying need for assurance, to know that the love of God is forgiving of hearts that make no excuses and humbly trust and rest in the promises of God who is faithful and just. God is light. God sees and knows all that is in us and all that comes out of us. God is love, and that love is faithful, just and merciful. Christian assurance rests not on what we feel, but on God who in the Cross and resurrection of his Son Jesus Christ, has revealed himself to be Life, Light and Love.
Sunday
1 John 1.10 “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.”
Yes, John is the writer who so expertly cut that diamond phrase: “God is love.” But it was set alongside the gem of equal value: “God is Light.” God’s love is holy love. God comes to us in Christ as both love and holiness, grace and demand. We love because God first loved us. God in Christ bore the sins of the world, and our sins. We never outgrow our need for God’s grace and mercy; and the Cross will always be the place where we kneel in gratitude, and pray for the sufficient grace of obedient love.
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