Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Walking in the Light

That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write unto you that your joy may be full. This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Part 2--I John 1:3-9



Today I want to focus on experiencing the joy that comes from walking in the light. "Walking in the light” means reading God's word and choosing to obey it and the principles in it. Walking in the light also means living honestly with God, ourselves, and with others about our struggles and our doubts. Often bringing our struggles or our doubts to safe, mature Christians is all that is needed to overcome them. It is human to want to hide and cover sin, but that always leads us deeper into it. When we hide or cover sin, we hinder our growth and dull our consciences, which give Satan a foothold into our lives. It is in this state that we can get uncomfortable with other Christians and think we have problems with them when in reality it is the God who indwells them that is making us feel so uncomfortable. If we aren’t careful, sin will have soon destroyed our fellowship with God and with other believers. Sin robs us of joy and we end up not feeling close to God. Sin also causes us to wear a mask and pretend to be something we aren’t, which causes us to feel disconnected from those we perceive as close to God. Sin robs us of such rich joy.



We have got to keep in mind that God is faithful and loves us regardless of what we do, but He does ask us to show Him our love by our obedience. Are we doing what He asks us to do? Are we not doing what He asks us not to? If we choose purposely to sin we make our relationship one-sided as far as love goes. God continuously loves us, but we may not be showing Him love. That distorts our relationship with Him and we lose joy. Loss of joy affects our emotions at a lot of different levels. I have watched people begin to drink or numb their pain as they made the decisions to end their marriages. They didn’t want to face the fact they were breaking vows they had made to God or the fact that they were hurting their spouses and their children.



If we want to know God and have His joy in this life, we have to be aware of the sinful bent we have and choose to put God's will above our own. As we do that He will continue to cleanse us and mold us into His likeness. If we stumble we confess it and confidently return our focus to the loving faithful God. As we do that God and His grace will become more and more real to us and our fellowship with Him, our families and our Christian friends will become more exciting and fulfilling. We would be so in love with God and so loving and kind to each other that the non-Christians would be "knocking" at our doors asking how they can have what we have.



In closing, "fellowship" simply means what it says. Two people in such a close relationship that it is like they were in a ship going in the same direction. One summer I was in a Kayak with a girl named Lauren. I was in the back and inexperienced. Everything started out great until we got into a cave and I did the opposite of what I needed to do. As a result we ran into a wall and it hurt her. As long as I did the right thing at the right time and we paddled together we were flying! Without close communication in the tight little cave what I did worked against us. That is the same thing in a body of believers. When we are going in the same direction as God, we can enjoy His love and joy and get a lot done. Also, we will enjoy the fellowship with other people because we are all headed in the same direction – and that direction leads us toward God. However, when each of us is going in our own direction the result is always going to be chaos and pain. We would do well to remember that the church is like being in a boat. We must learn to communicate and work together to keep going in the same direction. When we blow it we need to extend grace as Lauren did. When I ran Lauren into the wall, she didn’t get angry and bail out on me. Instead she forgave me and talked me the rest of the way through the cave. She graciously instructed me and used her strength in my weakness and together we made it through the cave. I wonder, if you are “walking in the light" and enjoying fellowship with God and with others following Him?



Prayer,
Father thank you for providing us a way to have a deep and intimate relationship with You. Please give us the courage to walk in the Light of Your word. Give us the courage to live transparently with others. Thank you for the body of Christ and the potential for fellowship with you and with each other. How exciting it is that we can have sweet relationships with others by moving closer and closer to You. Please bring to our minds Your truths and precepts that we might walk according to Your ways. Amen.

Fullness of Joy

"That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things we write unto you that your joy may be full. This, then, is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, That God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Part 1 - I John 1:3-9



I find it intriguing that John desired for people to experience joy. Because of this, he shared what he knew about Jesus with the people in his life so that they could have a mature relationship with god that would result in joy. John knew that He was loved by Jesus and he loved people. His greatest desire seems to be the desire to relate to others around things that had eternal value. He also wanted them to experience true joy through an intimate walk with Christ.



One of the things that John wanted us to understand that was that we don't want to deceive ourselves in to thinking we no longer have the propensity to sin; we still have a bent to do wrong. Some people call it the flesh, some the old man, and some people call it the sin nature. John points out that if we deny our sinfulness, we are essentially calling God a liar rather than resting in His grace on a day by day basis. In fact, the closer our fellowship is with Christ the more aware we become of His holiness and of our own sinfulness. It is important to recognize our sinfulness, because if we aren’t we can begin to sin in small ways, which has the propensity to drive us towards sins that have much more serious impact and consequences. For example, a man who commits adultery does not wake up one morning and decide to go out and commit adultery. A drug addict did not wake up one morning and decide to become an addict. A girl involved in a premarital sex does not wake up one morning and decide to find a guy to have sex. Instead, it comes about through many small decisions.



John desired for his friends to have complete joy in Christ. He pointed out that to have joy they needed to confess their sins and be able to walk in the light. Confess in its original language means to agree with God about it. That means naming the sin specifically to God. It means statements like, "Father, I have been involved in gossip. I have lusted after a guy, etc." It would also include things like unholy thoughts or hateful attitudes. God forgiving our sin is not something that we should view as a license to keep on walking in a sinful path, but to agree with God about sin means that we also take it as seriously as He does, because it impedes our fellowship with him and hinders our ability to love as He loves. Grace is free to us, but we need to remember that definitely it cost God. It cost Him His Son. If we really believe that Christ took the wrath of God for our sin on the cross, why would we want to continue to play with that sin? When we sin we are sinning against a holy, righteous, faithful, and very loving God.



The rest of the story is that when we agree with God we also have to agree with God that it is forgiven. Some of us hold on to our sin and/or look for ways to punish ourselves when Christ already took our punishment for us when He died on the cross. If we are focused on past sin that we have already confessed we will be more apt to repeat that same sin. Change does not come from our beating ourselves up, it comes from the renewing of our minds with God's word and our focusing our minds on Christ. Christ did not die so that we would continue dwelling in our shame and guilt -- He died so that we could be full of the joy that comes from knowing we are completely forgiven and completely and forever loved and accepted.



It is good for us to pause and think about where we are in our relationship with God? Are we able to experience joy because we are honestly confessing our sin to Him and basking in His grace? Or, are we abusing God's grace by purposely choosing to in sin? Are we finding joy in His forgiveness or are we continuing to dwell in the shame and guilt? Are we spending enough time in His word to allow Him to transform our minds and place His Godly desires in us? Do we have the same heart towards our friends that John had towards his? Do we want them to have the joy that comes from knowing the Lord and walking in His truth? Oh that we would truly recognize all that Jesus has done for us and come to know His heart intimately so that we would not be able to stop talking about Him.



Prayer:
Father, thank you that it is Your desire for us to experience joy in our relationship with You. Your holiness exposes our sin and we ask you to search our hearts and reveal the deceptive parts of them. Help us to remember that when we confess our sins You are faithful and righteous to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We bask in your grace and Your love. Please transform our minds and conform our wills to walk in obedience to your word. Give us the heart that John had towards his friends. Give us the desire to see them walk in truth and to have the joy that comes from confessing their sin. Give us the boldness to share Christ with unbelievers and confront sin in the lives of our Christian friends. Amen.

Introduction

Several years ago I realized that I often sped through my Scripture reading and gave it little thought. Yet, when I had meaningful conversations with friends or family members I replayed them over and over in my head. One day it occurred to me, that if I thought more about what God says in his word that I would not only know more about Him, but I would come to know Him in a personal way. I would know more about His thoughts, His character, His intentions, His passions, and His actions. So, I began to take one verse at a time and think on it and then journal about it. At the time I was served as a volunteer in youth ministry and shared my “Thoughts on God” with those girls. For a while I have been rewriting and posting them on this blog. I have realized when I am in the Word or move through my day focusing on God's presence that I have wonderful opportunities to Meet God in the Everyday. The Everyday can include storms, blessings, hard things, scary things, exciting things...just any where, anyplace, any time. I hope that you will be able to engage with what I write with both your head and your heart. I also hope you will be challenged to love, trust, and know the God of the Scriptures. It is my prayer that as you read you will experience Him at a deeper level and share pieces of your journey in the comments. It is my desire that we form a safe community of believers who pursue the God who loves us radically, eternally, and without reserve. As a precious pastor once told me, "Don't forget, Wendy, God is Good!" I find myself compelled by His Goodness and His Love to share so others can know Him through all the ups and downs of life. Please feel free to dialogue back and to share how each passage impacts you. If if there is a passage you would like me to write on or if you would like to be a guest blogger, please let me know. I am just learning to navigate this blog and appreciate the kind comments you have made in the past...I promise I will even try to respond if you leave a note. If you are blessed please share the blog with friends!