3/6/17 - Monday - IBS - 1 John 1:5-7 - 5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 cleanses us from all sin.

Julie:

The message that we have heard from Jesus is that He is the truth, the life, and the way.  We are to walk in that Way.  And when we do, we find ourselves walking in light.  "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill that cannot be hidden."  God's word says it.  "You" being the body of Christ is a light in the darkness.  But how can this be for me, when I know that I still have sin in me?  I know that there are still dark parts of me.  If there were not, then I would be perfect.  I would be Jesus!  But I'm not.  I'm still a sinner.  We are all sinner because we have Adam and Eve's blood in us.  So this can't be something that John forgot or overlooked when he wrote this.  So what does he mean? The point of this section is not to evaluate where we are as far as darkness or light, but what kind of action we are taking in our walk.  Remember, we are sheep of God's.  We are  spiritually stupid.  We do not know how to do anything without our Shepherd.  If I am a lost sheep in the dark forrest and my Shepherd gives me direction to get back to Him, which is a field of light, and I choose to go further into the forrest, then I am "walking in darkness".  I am a sheep who is alone and choosing to not walk in fellowship.  And as I venture further into the darkness, the dirtier I get.  If we do choose to listen to our Shepherd's direction and follow it, then we are "walking in light".  So, even though we are still in the dark forrest, we are still in fellowship because we are walking in the light of our Shepherd who guides us.  And what does He do when we finally step out of that forrest?  He cleans us.  I once thought of myself as a smart sheep who could find my own way out of darkness.  I was stubborn, hard-hearted, and stiff-necked.  I was deliberately walking in darkness. But God has let me wonder to the point of exhaustion.  The darkness gets so dark that I am asleep and obliveous to where I am.  Only the revelation that happens when God's light shines in and pierces the darkness can awaken me.  His light shows me the truth, the life, and the way and as I walk in that light I know I am cleansed dispite the darkness that I am walking through.