light shines through

When light shines, everything is exposed. The good, the bad, and everything in between. Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable.

In the darkness, everything looks the same. The good, the bad, and everything in between. Darkness represents what is sinful and evil.

This is the message we have heard from him to declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  (1 John 1:5-7)

'God is light' means the God is perfectly holy and true and that he alone can guide us out of the darkness of sin.  I believe that something we have to understand is that we can't create light to guide ourselves out of sin. Too often we try to do this on our own. The only we that we can be guided out of sin is through God's light. And because of God's light we can be a light to others.

Light is also related to the truth in that light exposes whatever exists, whether good or bad. As I look outside on this sunny Sunday, everything outside is exposed. I can see all the details of the corn field; the spots and the blemishes of the pool deck; the semi-green grass; and all of the nips and crannies.

In the dark, good and evil look alike; in the light, they can be clearly distinguished.

As I look at the dead tree out in the field, I can tell that it's dead right now. If I were to see its shadow in the moonlight tonight, I wouldn't be able to tell whether it was dead or alive.

Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, sin cannot exist in the presence of the Holy God.

We must eliminate that sin from our lives. If we want to have a relationship with God, we must put aside our sinful ways of living. To claim that we belong to him then go out and live for ourselves is hypocrisy. Christ, the light, will expose and judge or deceit.

My encouragement for you is to put aside those dark and sinful acts. When we commit to a relationship with God, his light exposes every part of us. We are completely unable to hide things from God.