This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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.
—1 John 1:5-7
According to 1 John 1:5, God is light. Since we all have fallen short of God's perfection (Romans 3:23), walking in the light isn’t about our ability to live a sinless life. If we were able to live a sinless life, then there would be no need for Jesus to cleanse us from all sin as 1 John 1:7 declares.
Walking in the light is walking in God.
Christians are “in God” but don’t instinctively “walk in God” or live the way He desires. In Romans 8:5-9, Paul teaches about being in the Spirit and walking after the Spirit. He explains why only those who walk after the Spirit experience the righteousness of God fulfilled in their lives.
Our fellowship with God produces the ability for us to walk in the light. But our walking in the light doesn’t produce fellowship with God. This is an important difference we often miss. Our actions reveal whether or not we have a relationship with the Lord, but our actions never give us a relationship with Him.
Failure to understand that our actions do not give us a relationship with God has led many believers to try and earn fellowship with Him through what they do. When we do this, we are trusting in our holiness. We are coming to God without trusting in Christ and His righteousness. When we come to God on our own merits, we are defenseless against the enemy’s condemnation. It is so important for us to realize that God doesn’t accept us based on anything we do. God accepts us based on our faith in Jesus Christ.
If we have faith in Jesus and fellowship with Him, holiness will come as a fruit of our fellowship with Him (Romans 6:22).
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit” (Romans 8:5).
Romans 8:5 gives us a test so that we can determine if we are walking after the flesh or after the Spirit. We have to judge our thoughts. If we are consistently thinking about the things of the Spirit (John 6:63), then we are walking after the Spirit. If we are thinking about carnal things, then we are walking according to the flesh and are subject to our feelings instead of God’s truth. We need to constantly remind ourselves—to be continually renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:23) that to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6).
We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17) and have a new identity, which is our spiritual man and not the flesh. But we will always be in the flesh until we put our faith in Christ and not in ourselves. We must choose to put on our spiritual man—the new person Christ has made us in righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). We choose to walk in His light by faith, realizing that within ourselves we can’t walk in God’s righteousness. Christ alone makes us holy. His truth sanctifies us (John 17:17). When we believe this in our hearts and surrender to the righteousness we have received in Christ, holiness is the fruit of our relationship with God.
“And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you” (Romans 8:10-11).
Holiness is not born of your works. Holiness in your life is born of your relationship with Jesus whose work was perfect. Holiness is the fruit of your relationship with God in the finished work of Christ.
Never say you have fellowship with God and then walk in darkness. Walk in the light—walk in God—walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfill the desires of your flesh (Galatians 5:16).
You reap holiness as a result of your relationship with Jesus Christ.
© 2024 Lynn Lacher
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