Demonstrate an Open and Honest Life
Week 41 Day 2
Pray:
Ask God to reorient you to Himself. Confess any known sin. Thank Him for His forgiveness. Be still and reflect on Jesus and His sacrifice for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to open your heart and mind to God’s Word. Pray for others in your life that they, too, would know and love God today.
Read:
1 John 1:5-11 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by 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. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Reflect:
To say God is light is another way of saying he is “truth.” The light reveals what is actually there. If it becomes dark enough, visual perception goes away completely. Consequently, John wrote that if we walk in the dark, then we are not living in the truth. There are many ways to live in this “lie-dark” rather than the “truth-light.” It could be denying the truth of the gospel itself. It could be denying that we are sinful and need the gospel personally. It could be claiming to have close relationship with God and yet having broken relationships with the people around us. Clearly, there are times when having a relationship with others is beyond our control. But, when it is within our ability to have fellowship with others and we do not because of our own hardness or selfishness or even because we are hiding the true “us” from others, then we are not able to live in fellowship with God. It seems like this is stating the obvious, that we cannot walk in the “lie-dark” and the “truth-light” at the same time. However, one of the many terrible things of the “lie-dark” is that it tricks us into thinking it is the light. We can, instead, believe that this grey world around us is the way things really are. We can think that a world of colors and safety and beauty in relationships with God and others is all a myth. It is all a beautiful lie. The real world is shades of grey and ultimately just a monolithic blackness. War is normal, divorce is normal, hate is normal, division is normal, brokenness is normal, darkness is the norm. But what is “normal” is not what is “natural”. God has designed us to live in the light and in the light we have fellowship with him. When we have fellowship with him, then we have fellowship with one another. Fellowship means partnership or communion. It means we have significant, honest friendship with others. We see each other and we love each other. Even as he sees us and loves us. He is the sun that gives the light that allows us to see each other in all of our imperfections and our uniqueness. If we walk in his light, then we have fellowship with one another. Enter this day without the shades of grey that can take us over. See people today in full color. See them as God sees them.
Pray:
(Personalize this prayer today; make it specific to the circumstances that face you.)
Ask God to lead you through His Spirit as you go through your day. Ask Him to bring to mind the truth of the gospel and its implications for what you will encounter today. Tell Him “Yes” to His will and ask Him for His power and protection to live this “yes.” Ask God to create and reveal opportunities to proclaim the good news today.