Walking In the Light

I believe the Lord has impressed this on my heart to share with all of you as sometimes we can get so much of the Word and become so familiar with it that it becomes no more than a teaching we receive on a regular basis.

The Apostle James exhorts us to not only be hearers of the Word but doers of the Word “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves (James 1:22;).”. At times the latter can be a bit challenging depending on the current condition and situation we are facing. During these times it often becomes easy to forget the truth of the Word and walk in our own human strength. James again likened those who are hearers only of the Word this way; “for if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was; The Word is a mirror and we are to see ourselves through the Word and never move away from what we see. It should be what define us and tell us who we are and not allow our circumstances to dictate how we behave on a daily basis.

The Apostle John puts it this way “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 Jn 1:7;). If we choose to remain and live in the light of God’s Word, we will always be at peace, regardless of our circumstances. Jesus is the true light and “in him who is light we shall see light (Ps 36:9;)”. We must remain focused on Him, who is the Word. I also looked at the meaning of the Word “fellowship” and it’s a very intimate word. It means to “give a right hand, to participate, to commune with one another”.

When we walk in the light of the Word we will desire to have fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. This can sometime be a challenge as we do not always agree on all things, but one thing about God’s Word is that it’s not optional among believers, who are likeminded in the faith. A believer can say or do something that hurt us but as fellow believers we are exhorted not to take offense. How do we not take offense? by walking in the Spirit. It is our flesh that gets offended, not our spirit-man, it’s our flesh that puts up a barrier up because we feel we must protect ourselves at all cost when offended, but God is already our shield. The only barrier we need is the shield of faith to prevent the fiery dart of the enemy.

Offense is a fiery dart and we have to respond with our faith and stand on what we believe. Offense can further result in bitterness, strife and drawing away from each other which is contrary to God’s Word. Offense tears down instead of build up. Once that happens, we are opening ourselves for the enemy to work in us.

There is only one enemy of our soul and its Satan himself, not our brothers and sisters. Peter exhorted us to “be sober, be vigilant…  (1 Peter 5:8;). We can never allow him to use us as instruments for his purpose.

Yes, sometimes hurt comes but we must keep our eyes on Jesus and continue to love as He loved. He love was not conditional based on who liked Him or not. His love went beyond human boundaries and touched the world. We ought to love as He did, even those who has offended and hurt us. We cannot allow our feeling to dictate our behaviour. We are the children of light. Let us walk as children of light. This is who we are!

Angene Fynn