Run to the LIGHT(of God), get out of the darkness.
It seems a bit strange to be urging people to walk in the light at the darkest time of the year, here in the northern hemisphere. Light and darkness cannot exist together, we will either be in one or the other.
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we WALK IN THE LIGHT (our choice) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus, his son, purifies us from all sin. 1 John 1:5, 6, 7
A long time ago now I read a book by an Anglican Minister, Charles, where he confessed that he was having feelings of attraction towards a young woman; he was happily married. Instead of ignoring the feelings he decided that he needed to address the problem and went to an older clergyman. He was open, the first essential for getting help and talked about his misplaced feelings. The older brother counselled him and they prayed together, but at the end of their time he said to Charles, ‘you won’t have any more problems with this, now that it’s been BROUGHT INTO THE LIGHT’. Simply confessing and sharing what had started to manifest inside, out of sight, had broken the power of the false attraction. The devil loves to keep things hidden and covered, but as John tells us, ‘God is LIGHT’.
King David, the greatest king in Israel, committed adultery with Bathsheba and then murdered her husband, Uriah, to cover up his sin. But God, who ‘lives in Light’, couldn’t let him away with the sin and called him to account through his own personal prophet, Nathan. We all have blind spots and God may use others to speak to us and identify areas where He requires repentance or change. Don’t be hasty to reject those who bring correction, God Himself may be speaking to us. David wrote Psalm 51 to acknowledge his sin before God and it’s been kept in God’s Word for eternity.
Isaiah 9:2 spoke of the coming of the Lord;
The people walking in darkness have seen a GREAT LIGHT; on those living in the land of the shadow of death A LIGHT has dawned.
Don’t focus on the problem, focus on the Lord;
For with You is the fountain of LIFE; in Your LIGHT WE SEE LIGHT. Psalm 36:9
The Life and Light OF THE LORD are the answer we need.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into HIS WONDERFUL LIGHT. 1 Peter 2:9
God called us before time began to be His own special people, out of darkness into His Wonderful Light.
May God bless and keep us this day and in the year ahead.