Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Fellowship with the Lord
1 John.1:5-10
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. (V.7)
It’s in the very nature of humans to yearn and seek an intimacy with a being greater than us. In this pursuit men have built temples, idolized other humans, built cities and idols, waged wars etc. As Christians we rest in the knowledge that through faith we fellowship with an unblemished, omnipotent, loving and holy God. The knowledge of this quenches this desire. Through the sacrifice of His Son the promise of fellowship with the creator of the universe who is mysterious yet knowable, omnipotent yet very inherent, became attainable. His holiness is spoken about repeatedly throughout the scriptures, but even still He longs to commune with his creation that have fallen from grace. This is the promise that gives us hope.
            It is the knowledge of all this that brings up the question ‘how can sinful creation such as man have true fellowship with a holy God, in whose presence sin has no place?  In 1 John 1 the apostle John helps us to understand what’s keeping us from enjoying true and fulfilling fellowship with God. The focus of this passage is not about becoming holy like God because He is holy, but instead it points to the honesty that God expects of us. The apostle first reminds us that God is light, and that none of the darkness that we live in can ever defile the light that is He. It only separates us from Him. The passage calls us to understand that the prerequisite to fellowship with God; which is, to be honest with ourselves about who we actually are and that from there and only there can we move away from the darkness and into the light where we can commune with Him.
            God does not expect us to attain absolute holiness, and this verse does not ask us to live in absolute holiness in order to enjoy fellowship with God. It is because of such misconceptions that we are often able to move in and out of living a sinless life, according to our emotion or convenience. This passage teaches us that to remain ‘in the light’ we have to actively ‘walk in the light’, which means we have to continuously seek God, to be renewed by the blood of Jesus which frees us all insincerity. The passage doesn’t ask us to just enter the light but it asks us to ‘walk in the light’. Walking is an action that continues. It is only through the blood of Jesus that we can continue walking in the light, and remain sinless, renewed and perfected by the Holy Spirit. Praise be to Jesus who allows us to walk in the light of God.
Thought for the Day: God does not expect us to be instantly holy but to be refined be the fire as we become more and more like Jesus.
Prayer: Help us to be honest about who we really are, allowing the Spirit to stir within us so that we may be convicted of our weaknesses and drawn closer to you.

Jeeva John  San Francisco

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