Walking in Light
1 John 1:5-2:2
This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. [1 John 1:5-6]
“There are many people who profess to know God and to have fellowship with Him, and yet they are walking in darkness, contrary to the commands of God. They are only fooling themselves. The idea that you can have fellowship with God without turning away from a life of sin is a lie. Real fellowship with God changes us from within. I can have a wonderful prayer life and feel very close to God, but I am living a lie if I am not also turning away from sin. It is not true fellowship.” [Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel movement]
For those of you who are familiar with Chuck Smith’s testimony, you know that it was the experience of God’s grace that radically changed his Christian life. For many years he was a legalist. But the Lord took him from a legal relationship to amazing grace. Interestingly enough, his life became even more deeply in line with the commandments of God. His testimony was that God’s work of grace is monumentally more powerful than our works of “trying harder.”
Grace responds to what Christ has done; it is not an ascetic exercise in law. I believe it was J. Vernon McGee who said, “Grace takes the Law to the nth degree.”
Grace is a Spirit-filled work; it is fundamentally different [at its source] than “trying harder.” What is interesting, however, is that many Christians will continue trying harder at the expense of experiencing amazing grace.
A believer fueled by grace will live more righteous than a legalist because he walks in Light, and that Light is from within.
You see, at the core is motivation. The legalist says “look at me,” while Grace says “look at Him.”
There is a very great divide in the two!
