Monday, February 7, 2022

What We Are (Eph. 5:8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/7/2019 10:06 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                      Focus:  “What We Are”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Ephesians 5:8

 

            Message of the verses:  8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.”

 

            We mentioned in an earlier SD on this verse two verbs, and the second one we want to look at is the word “are.”  The verb tells us two important things which we will look at in this rather short SD.  It is in the present tense and this indicates our spiritual condition, which contrasts to what we were before we trust Christ.  “Now [we] are light in the Lord.”  For Christ “delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col. 1:13), and He has “called [us] out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).

 

            John MacArthur writes “Like ‘were’ the verb ‘are’ is not modified.  Scripture sometimes speaks of believers being in and of the light, but here we are said to be light.  ‘You are the light of the world,’ Jesus said (Matt. 5:14).  Because we now share Christ’s own nature, we share in His light.  Just as He is the ‘light of the world’ (John 8:12), His people are also ‘the light of the world’ (Matt. 5:14).  Because we are in the Lord, we who were once children of darkness are now children of light, and it is as such children that we should walk.”

 

            As we think about these important words, words that tell us one of the many things that we now are and have because we are in Christ, it is good for us to pause and think about this important truth of being light.  We talked in our last SD about the story of the man trapped in some kind of mine or cave in the darkness, and then when he found the light he desired the darkness more than the light we know that if we are a true believer in Jesus Christ, that is if we realized one day that we were “born wrong” born with a nature to only sin, and then we realized that Jesus Christ, “The Light of the World” came to earth to pay for our transgressions, and then we accepted Him as Savior and Lord, that unlike the person in this cave or mine we came to the Light and confessed Him as our Savior and Lord.  Now since all of this has happened to us and because we are “light” we are to walk in the Light and a part of that walking in the Light is to tell others about the Light we are walking in.  To share with them in a very non-confrontational way that they are walking in darkness and need to come to the Light in order to be saved from their sins. 

 

            I am not saying that it is easy to walk in the light as we, even though we are truly saved have to watch out for the world, the flesh, and the devil, as even though we are dead to these enemies we are tempted to follow after them.  WALK IN THE LIGHT!

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is my desire to walk in the light and not, when I am tempted, follow the enemies who have been defeated.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  One of the things that I am learning about humility is that all of the things that I do for the cause of Christ are being done because Christ is in me, and the Holy Spirit is guiding me to do the things that God has planned for my life in eternity past, so I can never be proud of doing these things, but praise the Lord for allowing me to do them.

 

Today’s quotation is from the man who has given all of the quotations that I am using, Dr. David Jeremiah who said “If we ignore divine directives, we cannot enjoy God’s blessings.”  I have to say that this quotation surely goes along with what we are looking at in today’s SD. 

 

6/7/2019 10:29 AM

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