Our Greatest Need As Christians (Part Two)

From the desk of Dr. Robert L. Taylor, Th.D. We’re examining the profound thoughts and teaching of apostle John. Our passage is 1 John 1:6-9. In part one, we looked at 1 John 1:6. Now we’re turning our attention to the next verse. John says, “But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). Here we’re given the alternative to the behavior described in verse 6. Instead of walking in the darkness, we need to “walk in the light” and therefore have fellowship with God. As we do so, we’ll encounter an ongoing realization of the cleansing benefits of “the blood of Jesus His Son.” John says, “But if we walk in the Light.” According to Scripture, what does it mean to walk in the light? God is the source of all light because “God is light” (1 John 1:5). This phrase is a declaration about the character of God! To walk in light is to share the character of God—to walk in righteousness and purity. The message is that God is completely, unreservedly, absolutely holy, with no admixture of sin, no taint of iniquity, and no hint of injustice. God has no darkness in His character at all—no unrighteousness or sin. People who walk in the light are people who have no deliberate or conscious unrighteousness or sin in their lives. The Word of God, a source of light, reveals who we are (Ephesians 5:13), what we should be, and how we can change to become more like Jesus. To walk in the light means that we daily bring our thoughts and actions under the scrutiny of God’s Word and respond in obedience to its guiding influence. Further, it means we refuse to react against the revealing light of God’s truth by clinging to our own ways, no matter how comfortable they may be or how many other Christians share them. The psalmist says of God, “For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9). In other words, as one walks in the light, he receives more light. Be encouraged!