Today’s Reading is 1 John 1:5 - 7
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. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, purifies us from all[a] sin.
If we have truly opened our heart and entered into a relationship with Christ as our savior, then we need to strive to be as much like Him as we can. Will we be able to be perfect each and every day, no, but we should still try as best as we can to do this. When we falter, we’re called to go to Him and ask forgiveness for our shortcomings just as you would do if you hurt a loved one or a friend. When we interface with other people each day we are usually very careful with our words so that we don’t hurt or offend them. If this is true, then why would we do anything different when we’re alone or at least we think that we’re alone? We aren’t truly alone because God is with us always and sees all, so if He is our friend and you love Him aren’t we hurting God when we knowingly sin? If we’re not sure if we’re sinning, then we should pull out the Bible to investigate our potential actions.
If we are truly walking with the Lord wouldn’t we be seeking to understand His path for us? We would be truly in friendship with Him through prayer, reading His word and fellowshipping with others that are seeking Him. We would also be so excited and joyful that we would want to help others move from the darkness into the light so they could feel the joy. I have found in my own walk that it becomes easier each day that I’m in relationship with the Lord to depend on him more and more. The other God’s that I followed start to fade away as He grows in my life. Even during times of difficulty I have comfort and joy, because I can depend on Him to take care of me and my family. For example, when I started my walk we had built up a pile of bills so I would give God the last money that I had left after our bills. Sometimes He wouldn’t get anything because I needed to keep money in the account just in case something happened. I was a slave to 2 God’s, myself and money. I hadn’t really moved into a true relationship with Him and didn’t understand what that meant. As I’ve grown over the years through prayer, reading the Bible and being discipled by other stronger Christians I’ve moved to giving the Lord my first $$$’s and have found that my relationship with the Lord has grown closer. The more I give Him control the more joy and comfort I feel. It’s an amazing feeling to let God lead. Are you truly letting God lead your life or are you setting the pace and expecting Him to follow?
Dave