God Is Light

Scripture: 1 John 1 TPT

5 This is the life-giving message we heard him share and it’s still ringing in our ears. We now repeat his words to you: God is pure light. You will never find even a trace of darkness in him. 6 If we claim that we share life with him, but keep walking in the realm of darkness, we’re fooling ourselves and not living the truth. 7 But if we keep living in the pure light that surrounds him, we share unbroken fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, continually cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:5-7 TPT)

I made a list of sixteen key words that frequently appear in 1 John. John uses six of those words in today’s reading: Life, light, darkness, truth, fellowship, sin. Many of the oft-repeated words in 1 John also appear often in John’s Gospel. I think this is because John’s purpose in writing this letter is the very same as his purpose in writing his Gospel: “These are written so that you may continue to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you will have life by the power of his name.”  (John 20:31 NLT).

God is pure light! Friends, as God’s children, we have his pure-light DNA at the core of who we really are. I’m pretty sure we all have a little residual darkness in us, at least I know I do. But here’s the thing: if we claim God’s pure-light Spirit as our life-source, then God’s Spirit and the light he generates will shape who we are becoming as we grow and mature. Light is stronger than darkness, and the pure light of God is going to drive out the impure darkness. We’ll look more and more like Jesus, the visible expression of the invisible God. We’ll think more and more like Jesus, because the mind of Christ will be developing in us. We’ll act and talk more and more like Jesus, because the same Spirit that moved him will be moving in us.

This Living Expression is the Light that bursts through gloom—the Light that darkness could not diminish! (John 1:5) Let’s let his light, pure light, shine in us and let’s let our light shine on others. That will bond us together in pure fellowship, and will drive the darkness and cleanse the sin right out of us! If that’s not happening, we’re fooling ourselves!

Prayer:

Father, Thanks for the pure light! Jesus said that we, his followers, are the light of our world. He said “let your light shine!” I want that for me and my friends. May it be so!