Step into the Light

Step into the Light
Words of Faith 5-9-24
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2024
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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1 John 2
[7] Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. [8] Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. [9] Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. [10] Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. [11] But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him.

So, where is obedience most needed? God reveals the same old command that is still new (John 15:12, 17): Love one another. Jesus' command is quite straightforward. It is not conditional. There are no special circumstances. Love one another.
This "darkness" that John keeps referring to might be about many different things, such as sin, lust, debauchery, and idolatry. Still, first and foremost, it is about hate. The sad truth is that there is a lot of hate in our world that claims to be light and hides in religious language.
The darkness loves to masquerade as light. Whether it is the white separatist hate groups or black separatist hate groups, ethnic cleansings or jihad "holy" wars, suicide bombings or reprisals, some of the most terrible things that happen are done in the name of some "god" and are cloaked in religious language. But darkness is still darkness. These things have nothing to do with the light.
And guess what? Darkness is not always so big and dramatic. Sometimes, darkness is subtle. For example, mortgage bankers redline a neighborhood based on the ethnicity of the area, or a local congregation steers a house-build project away from a particular family based on the color of their skin ("for the good of everyone," of course).
That is darkness, too, maybe some of the darkest. Or when church leaders look the other way as racism drives a congregational decision or violence is tolerated against a particular group of people because they are, after all, "sinners." We might rationalize our acts of darkness, but it is still darkness.
Anytime people are hated (ignored, abused, discriminated against, or slandered) because of some label, no matter their sin or error, it is getting dark! When any decision is made beneath the surface to appease bigotry, or when we treasure up our anger and nurse it privately in the heart, when we mutter behind the back of our brother or sister in Christ, when we attack a person instead of debating their ideas... darkness again. Anytime we forget that God hates sin but loves sinners enough to die for them, we are in the DARK.
So here comes John saying, "Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness."
Uh, John, could you be clearer about that?
"Whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him." That is truth. Darkness blinds, whether hate, lust, greed, or jealousy. In the darkness, we are lost. There is no direction.
So, what can we do, John? Step into the light. "Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble."
Make a bold difference by loving the world to Jesus today, and your light will shine!

Lord, Jesus, let the light of Your love shine in me, making a little bit of Your light evident in whatever darkness I encounter. In Your name, Amen.

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