Eyewitness: Light and Blood

“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 1:7)

Here’s the difference between religion and being in fellowship with the one, true God: Religion is all about trying to be bright enough to get noticed by your idea of God, trying to be good enough to be acceptable to him so he will do good things for you or let you into heaven.

eye_350Christianity – being in fellowship with God through faith in Jesus – is about walking in God’s light, not your own. It’s about saying, “I live in darkness; I have no light of my own. To find light, I’m going to have to move closer to him.”

One problem: Sin. Our sin is darkness. To walk in God’s light, we need to be cleansed of our sin. Again, though, we can’t clean ourselves. (That would be religion, paying for our own sin.) Nope, Jesus’ blood is what cleans the sin out of us; it’s what pays for every last drop of our darkness. When we trust in his death, his blood for our sin, we gain access to the light.

Think: Do you ever catch yourself thinking that you need to be a light, that you need to be good enough on your own to earn God’s love and acceptance of you? What’s wrong with that idea?

Pray: Thank God that the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies from all sin those who trust in him.

Do: Look up the definitions of light and dark in a dictionary.