Sunday 20 January 2008

Sunday Reading: 1 John 1 5-10
 
Key Verse: 1 John 5 9
9  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
 
Devotion:
A Message from God that we all need to hear and be reminded of regularly...
 
If we walk into a darkened room, there is no way that we will know what is in there. Yet as soon as there is a little light, we will start to see things, shapes, shadows. But when a very bright light is switched on, then we will see exactly what is in the room and will become aware of all the things that we did not see in the beginning. When the room was darkened, we would tend to ignore the small things that we did not see, like spiders behind chairs or cupboards. But with the bright light, we can see them and know that they are there.
 
As we go through our lives, we do tend to stick with things that we know. We don't open our eyes fully to all that is around us; partly because we don't want to know and partly because we think we are safer without knowing. We allow others to show us the ways and do things the way they do – we follow the dull lights. By doing this, we fall into the same ways as they are living and begin to think that that is the right way of living. It is only when a brighter light comes along and we see all that we are missing that we realise that we are doing things wrong. If we don't stick with that brighter light, we will pretty soon fall back into our old ways of living.
 
We need to walk in the perfect light that is Jesus Christ, knowing that through Him we will be able to see all. We will be able to know that by admitting to our faults He will be willing to forgive us and show us what is right. We will still want to do what we are used to because that is how we have grown up, but at least we will be able to listen to what is right and attempt to do that!
 
Points to Ponder:
Do you think you are living right?
 
Have you compared your life to Christ's?