“Do everything without complaining and arguing, so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people. Hold firmly to the word of life…” (Philippians 2:14-16a NLT)
What does it mean to be a person of light? What characteristics or attributes qualify a person to be considered a person of light? Of course, the simple answer is, a person of light loves and lives like Jesus. But aren’t their differences in how some Jesus followers live? Is there a common factor that EVERY Jesus follower has or exhibits in and through their life?
Some of the “key” ingredients of the life of a Jesus follower are things like forgiveness, grace, faith, belief, being filled with God’s Spirit, and worship. There are more and over time the manifestations of God’s grace are revealed in and through the life of a believer, but foundationally, these are the elements that must be present, not only to HAVE salvation and new life in Christ, but also to GIVE evidence of the Lord’s presence living in and through us.
Light removes and replaces darkness. We who once walked in darkness have seen the light of Christ, have embraced it, been transformed by it, and now live in the newness of life only available to those who have experienced His light. What that doesn’t mean is we can now brag and hold it over everyone’s head that hasn’t yet come to Him.
What it DOES mean and what we CAN do is share the light of Christ with everyone in our spheres of influence. If you’re in an environment of total darkness and you have light, it’s a sin to not let it shine. When I was walking in darkness, I didn’t realize how lost I was or how far from light I was until I saw Him shining in and through a friend who gently and compassionately helped me to understand that I was lost and without hope until I opened my life to the light of Jesus’ love.
We don’t need to argue anyone into the light, we just need to let it shine in the ways we live and love. Genuinely born-again believers are different in good and positive ways. There’s no way NOT to be. We must by necessity be vessels of the Holy Spirit. He refuses to be hidden and will work His way out of anyone’s life in whom He lives.
Infinite means no end. God’s light will never end, will never be withdrawn or darkened by our or anyone else’s sin. Sin is darkness and to the extent we persist in habitual sin, to that extent we’ll dim the light of our Savior in our lives. Living in light means we give exposure to anything in our heart, mind, or life that represents anything that is dark, divisive, or demeans the Savior’s presence in our life.
Light demands decision! We MUST choose light or darkness, there’s no middle ground. To profess faith and still love our sin more than Jesus is to believe a lie and to continue to walk in darkness. We’re either walking away from sin and death or continuing to walk in it. Faith in Christ will launch us on a new path, but we must immediately make decisions to begin the journey of deliverance from the sin that so tightly holds us.
If you are caught in habitual sin – lust, drugs, alcohol, gossip, to name a few – please, find a believing friend today with whom you can be honest, then seek together the help you must have if you want to walk in Christ’s light.
And please don’t hear what I’m not saying. We will not be perfect in our behavior, thoughts, or attitudes until Jesus returns or we go home to Him in death. However, to the extent we allow ourselves to continue to wallow in habitual sin without effort on our part to put it behind us, to that extent our witness for Christ will be hindered.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 