The Lord is awe-inspiring, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in 1 John 1:6-7,
“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, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
Here the apostle John makes an observation… “those who walk in the light” have fellowship with others who walk in the light, and the blood of Jesus Christ – the sacrifice of his life – has been credited to them with our divine Judge.
In making this observation he is not per se giving a command to his readers to walk in the light. He is observing that those who do so demonstrate something about themselves. As Paul would put it, they are now a “new creation”. 2 Corinthians 5:17. Those who do not walk in the light, but continue to “walk in the darkness” demonstrate by their lives they are being dishonest, not living by the truth. As the last apostle on the scene and close to the end of his life John is providing what will be a series of observations we can make after his death that demonstrate “who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are”, 1 John 3:10. He is looking to spare the church of false teachers that have already infiltrated the ranks of believers.
A couple of observations I draw from this passage are that those of us who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith have “fellowship with one another” and that we also have a clean slate with God, “the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”
In thinking of this second point this morning it draws my attention to the tremendous expression of God’s love for us in sending his Son to offer his life for us – that we might have eternal life. Our grasping this great love is something that transforms us. Paul points to this truth in his prayer for believers, “I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians 3:17b-19.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your theme of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We’d love to hear from you!
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