11.30.8 "Come Into the Light"

"Come into the Light"

Daniel 7:1-28
I John 1:1-10
Psalm 119156-176
Proverbs 28:23-24

"This is the message God has given us to pass on to you: that God is Light and in him is no darkness at all. So if we say we are his friends, but go on living in spiritual darkness and sin, we are lying. but if we are living the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin."

Christian growth is a process. There isn't a moment that we can stop and say, "there, I've arrived.... I don't need to grow any more." Unfortunately, we have forces working against us that would like to stunt our growth. There are things that creep into our life that essentially stop the maturing process.

What makes these "growth stoppers" so dangerous is that they come from within. Growing in Christ is dying to the flesh, and believe it or not, or flesh does not want to die! So, it rages against us.

Think of your relationship with the Lord as a path. The path leads toward greater intimacy with Christ. Where are you on the path right now? The goal is that we walk joyfully onward. Do you feel in your spirit that your running toward him, walking grudgingly onward, or have you stopped along the way? The challenge arises in that the flesh is not really looking forward to this journey. It sees that this progression with Christ becomes increasingly brighter. Flesh knows that as we come into the light, flaws may be revealed. We may become aware of sin, and that will have to be dealt with.

Flesh says, "You're doing a great job compared to them! Look how far you've come. You're much farther down the path than some others. Why don't you stop here. Rest. Sure, there are things that the Light will reveal, but that may get uncomfortable. You deserve your comfort."

So we may say, "you know what, I am tired. I have been working too hard. I know God is drawing me to deal with this, but I'm not going to go there right now." We stop.

So what changes? The surprising thing is that no one really notices we've stopped. In fact we don't notice much change at all. We can still see the light. No big deal, right? In fact, this comfort is kind of a great feeling. What we don't see is that the darkness has crept in. It's very subtle, but none the less, standing out of the "Light of God's presence" is standing in the darkness.

If it seems really hard to get back "on track", it can be because we've become comfortable in the darkness. But the scripture is clear. "if we say we are his friends, but go on living in spiritual darkness and sin, we are lying."

There is such promise in walking in the Light. "But if we are living in the light of God's presence, just as Christ does, then we have wonderful fellowship and joy with each other, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from every sin." That's where I want to be. I want my relationship with the Lord to be exciting, open to his leading, and vulnerable to his Spirit. That will change everything, even my relationship to those around me.

This is what puts the "Dynamic" in the Dynamic Lifestyle of Worship. Walk in the Light today!




Through the Power of the Spirit,
Live the DREAM!

P Greg


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