Have you ever gotten up in the middle of the night and walked through your house to check on something? Most houses have some sort of light, so the house is not completely dark. The blue light on our Internet router puts out quite a bit of light. Nevertheless, I have hit my knee on the sofa while trying to make my way through the living room in the dark, even though some light enters from outside almost every night. It is difficult to navigate in the darkness. The safest way to walk is to turn on a light to see where you are walking at night.
Scripture often uses “walk” to speak of the way we live. 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). He was speaking about the way we live. Following Christ is a way of life. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:6, “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.” He was speaking of a way of life. In Colossians 1:10 Paul also wrote: “that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (NKJV). Other versions interpret the word “walk” as “live.”
In the same way a wise person would not want to walk in the dark, we should not want to live in darkness, however, Jesus said that some people prefer the darkness to the light. In John 3:19, Jesus said, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” He is the light, yet people refuse to come to him. They prefer to hide their sin in the darkness.
These are the ones whose minds Satan has blinded from the truth. Paul wrote “But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” Notice that Paul said that they do not believe, not that they cannot believe. Most “intellectual” arguments against the gospel are not a matter of intellect, but of will. Many simply will not believe because they know that such a decision will require a change of lifestyle that they are not willing to make. Even if you adequately answer their intellectual challenges, they still refuse. Their minds are blinded, and their hearts are hardened.
The psalmist wrote, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path,” (Psalm 119:105). God’s word enlightens the heart and makes us “wise to salvation” (2 Tim. 3:15). This is another reason why God’s word has always come under attack ever since the serpent told Eve, “Did God really say…?” (Genesis 3:1). These doubts in God’s word are strongholds, any argument that “exalts itself against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5). The way to bring down these dark strongholds is to shine the light of God’s word on them.
We believers need to walk in the light of God’s word and not let the darkness of the world cloud our thinking. “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). Christ has changed our lives. Our lives need to reflect the light of Christ. The way we live should let people know what principles are guiding our lives.
If we want to remain in the darkness and not come out into the light, we cannot have fellowship with God. “But 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). We cannot cling to sin and take hold of God at the same time. We must relinquish sin, come to the light and come clean. Then we can fellowship with God and other believers.
Repentance comes when we realize we are in darkness and we want to move into the light. “But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God” (John 3:21). Walk in the light.
Mike McGuire Ministries 