Monday, November 17, 2014

Bible study on walking in the light



Out of the Darkness

Ken Stegall reflects:  “When I was a boy I spent a week at my Granddaddy and Mamaw’s house each summer.  They didn’t have running water or indoor plumbing.  The water wasn’t a problem because I thought it was neat to use the hand pump and the gourd dipper at the well, AND… best of all, you only had to take a bath once a week!

However, the lack of indoor plumbing was another matter.  Not so bad in the daylight, but the path to the outhouse was fraught with danger in the dark!  Bears, lions, snakes, wildcats, panthers – they were all out there… waiting.  Moonlight helps a little, but the shadows can be even spookier than the dark – especially if the wind is blowing a little bit.  You wouldn’t believe how many times I barely made it back to the house in a dead heart-pounding run, one step ahead of whatever-it-was that was chasing me!

With those vivid memories in mind, Stegall makes the following applications:  “The Bible talks about ‘walking in the light’ [cf. John 11:9-10; 12:35-36; 1 John 1:7]. 

It indicates that ‘light’ is always available to me if I choose to walk in it [cf. Ephesians 5:8].  I don’t ever have to walk in the dark again.  The Bible also indicates that the lion in the darkness of this world is real.  And he really is stalking me.  But he’s only powerful in the darkness; the light robs him of his power, because in the light, you can see him for what he is.  In the darkness, he can conceal himself.  We’re almost blind in the darkness, but he’s not – that’s his world.”

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life” (John 8:12).

Jesus is the Light that leads us out of the darkness of sin and death into salvation and eternal life.  He died on the cross for our sins to open and “illuminate” the way to God (John 14:6).  Those who choose to follow Jesus, God will rescue “from the dominion of darkness” and bring them into “the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

To “walk in the Light,” we must place our faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from sin in repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and be baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38)  Then, “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 1:7).

Jesus said, “He who walks in darkness does not know where he is going.”  And he does not realize that he is lost in the dark and headed for destruction!  So Jesus pleads, “Believe in the light, that you may become sons of light” (John 12:35-36).  Then, we can come out of the darkness into the light!

In sin, there is darkness, despair, and DEATH.  In Christ, there is light and LIFE!

Won’t YOU allow Christ to deliver you out of darkness into the light of life by trusting and obeying Him today?

David A. Sargent

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