CWW Week 23 – Day 5 – Dealing With Sin 

Light Repels Sin.

1 John 1:7 (NKJV) 

“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.”

This verse emphasises the importance of living according to God’s truth and the resulting purity and fellowship that comes from that relationship.There is so much more to faith in Christ that we will never grasp.

 The benefits to our journey is akin to the features on a modern day computer or mobile device. They have so many features that most people would never use because many of just don’t know what they are capable of.

The car I drive is like this. I use the basics but there is so much more built into it that I never use because I never take the time to read the manual cover to cover and experiment with the vehicle.

This is what God’s grace and mercy are like. The more I stand in the light of His truth, the more I am amazed at the depth and breadth of the miracles that this relationship bestows on me every single day. Even the little things of life burst with His glory.

A month ago I misplaced a set of keys to a cabinet that I desperately needed access to. I searched and searched for weeks to no avail. I prayed to God to help me find it and still nothing. In desperation I resolved to call a locksmith. Given our remote location I knew this would be a very costly exercise. I went to bed knowing that my first job the next morning was to phone the locksmith and arrange the visit.

As I closed my eyes I prayed about it one more time and fell asleep. During the night I kept waking up with the thought — check the second drawer in the bedside chest. In the half sleep I tried to ignore it thinking that turning the light on then to check would disturb my wife. In the morning I awoke and went straight to that draw. There sitting on top of all the contents were my keys.

As we had just moved to another house I had no idea that my wife had scooped up some things from the other place and put them in that draw to sort out when we settled in. I had not put them there so there is no way I would have known.

God is always at work in our lives even when we venture into dark places. He is ever ready to burst in to take us out if we ask Him to. As we understand the power of sin to sear and bruise our conscience and drag us into dark corners; we then have a better understanding of the benefits of just remaining in the light.

In these perplexing times it is despair and anxiety that can take us to dark places as a sense of hopelessness builds up to dim the light of the big truth.

Have you ever gone to a party or social gathering taking your truth with you? As the event drags on you realise that your truth is not their truth. You try and get by on small talk and then in desperation you question, is it time to speak in your truth or just go home? Being in fellowship with one another in truth is so intoxicating that you just don’t want to be anywhere else. It’s like finding your tribe after years in the wilderness.

Constant exposure to this kind of fellowship exposes us to a more persistent light where sin has less chance to grow.

We are loved beyond our craziest imaginings. We are so covered in God’s grace and mercy that even our worst fears have no power if we truly get the enormity of the gift and power of the cross of His sacrifice.

The Pagan population of Rome was converted to Christ at the Colosseum. Every day they gathered to witness the macabre spectacle of the Christians being fed to the lions. Day after bloody day they had their blood lush diminished because even as they were being ripped apart, the Christians sang praises to God and died with a certain joy in the face of the worst adversity.

The pagans wanted that kind of peace and thousands were converted. 

God calls on us to love Him with all we have and to love each other as we love ourselves. We can’t do the latter if we beat ourselves up because we sin and do not accept the gift of grace through repentance.

To stand in the true light of God is to live a life where sin struggles to gain a foothold. Our character gets stronger and the fellowship we have with the like minded binds us together in community that truly lives as we are meant to live. Who loses when we do that?

Only darkness.

Questions.

1. Are their dark corners of your life that could do with some cleansing light?
2. Do you hunger for truthful relationships as you stand in the light of truth?
3. Are you ready to have the light of the cross drive out and repel those nagging aching sins that keep you awake at night?

Prayer.

Dear Lord, Papa God.

Help me to remain in the light. As I contemplate returning to the darkness as a dog returns to its own vomit, please strengthen me as only You can through the Holy Spirit. Forgive me of my sins Lord and thank you for still seeing me as righteous through my struggles. I am truly a work in progress and only Your love will get me through. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Have a great day with Jesus.

Graham Hood