Living in the Light
“But you, brothers and sisters, are not in the dark, for this day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or the darkness” – 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5
I had a friend who worked extremely hard one offseason and significantly improved their game. I knew that by the time the season rolled around, our coach and other teammates would hardly recognize my friend.
The first day of practice rolled around, and to my horror, my friend had slipped right back into making silly mistakes and playing like they had last season. Halfway through practice, I approached them and asked what was going on. My friend told me that as soon as she stepped back onto the practice field, she no longer believed that she had truly changed. She felt just like her old self and not the new self she had worked so hard to achieve. My friend had no confidence in the latest creation; all she could see was the old.
This is a common reality for many of us throughout our lives. We all have a past, things we would leave in the darkness instead. God calls us out of the darkness and into the light. He takes our sins and shame and washes them clean.
God’s forgiveness and love put us in the light, but often, we don’t choose to stay there. We can easily fall back into the darkness due to our unbelief that we are really changed. Just like our passage states, “We do not belong to the darkness.”
The darkness in our lives has no hold over us. It’s up to us to live like the forgiven children we are and not slip back into the habits of the darkness. Don’t let all your hard work in life go to waste because you cannot believe that you belong in the light.
- What triggers cause you to fall back into the darkness?
- What does living as ‘children of the light’ mean to you?
- Are you actively living in the light of God or choosing to remain in the dark?
“God, we thank You for pulling us out of the darkness and into Your light. Often, we feel like the darkness is trying to pull us back. Give us the strength to continue to live freely in the life You have now provided us. Give us the courage to believe that we are truly redeemed in You. Amen.”
