“If we walk in the light as God himself is in
the light, we have fellowship with one another.”
— 1 John 1:7 (NRSV)
Out of a very black-and-white
letter, that is the First Epistle of John, we find the starkest of introductions:
God is Light. This
light of God is not couched in a worldly sense. This light is the holiness of
God as it finds itself comprehensively separated and other-than anything the
world knows.
There could not be anything
further apart in classification or definition than God and the world; and,
though God has created the world, the world ran from God seeking to be its own
god, and therefore has run into the darkness.
The opportunity for the Christian
is restoration to that unworldly conception—to the reality of life governed by
Light, holy and sanctified, due true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But the
Christian is admonished; it is as clear as the distinction between night and
day who abides in God and who does not.
To make the harshest of
rationalisations, the believer who believes, but is not in fellowship, is an anachronism in the
faith. We cannot truly worship God and be in extraneous and problematic
conflict with fellow believers. The light of God does not work this way in our
lives. The light of God compels us to have fellowship with one another.
We Cannot Have It Both Ways
We cannot reap the benefits of
being in the light whilst remaining in darkness.
Light and darkness, spiritually
speaking, cannot coexist with an affinity of acceptable unity.
Perhaps this was the apostle’s
intent throughout his letter, in being so vociferously all-or-nothing in his approach.
We all know it is a rule of life, regarding the way life works, and has always
worked, that we cannot have everything our own way.
It is a mark of Christian maturity
that we can reap the blessings of God, and, at the same time, learn to accept
many things we cannot change about other people.
When we can accept that the key
sign of the light of God in our lives is healthy relationships, as far as we
are concerned, we understand the fundamental principle of faith. God never
designed our faith to be an independent thing; independent of human
relationships. Faith is exercised in the midst of the rub and messiness of
fellowship.
The light of God rests in us to
the apportionment of our ability to wrestle with ourselves in the context of
our relationships. Where there is conflict we battle it out with the Lord—“What in me needs to change or adapt,
Jesus?”
***
The key sign of the light of God
in our lives is how we get on with other people. If our fellowship is strained
we may struggle in the darkness, whereas where we negotiate conflict, achieving
reconciliation, the light of God shines in and through us.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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