Do we walk in darkness, or light?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: 1 John 1-2; Psalm 36

TO CHEW ON: “If we say that we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:6,7


Our reading talks about two ways to live: “Walk in darkness” and “walk in light.” These are metaphors. What do they mean?

The Zondervan Study Bible notes define both (emphases added):

To “walk in darkness” denotes a life characterized by wickedness and ignorance and an unwillingness to be open toward God and his revelation in Christ—lest one’s sinful behaviour be exposed.”

John actually quotes Jesus Himself on what walking in darkness is about:

“‘For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed’” - John 3:19.

Here’s the old secrecy over disobedience cropping up again that began way back in the Genesis garden (Genesis 3:8-10).

To “walk in light” denotes a life characterized by truth and holiness and a willingness to be open to God and his revelation, resulting in fellowship with one another and with God.”

How do we, in our everyday lives, walk in light?

A start, I believe is to be open with God—to let Him search us through the Bible and in prayer and keep no secrets from Him. We can express our doubts, fears, issues, and questions to Him. When He shows us attitudes to change and exposes the times we’ve sinned, we acknowledge, confess, repent, make restitution (or whatever is required). We let Him shine light into the farthest, darkest recesses of our hearts to show us to ourselves so we can renounce all darkness and live in light. (I’m thinking this may take years as, in my experience, God deals with us in layers to get to core of our onion hearts.)

A wonderful side benefit of living in light is how it smooths our relationships with fellow-Christians: “… we have fellowship with one another…”


PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to walk in light by being completely open and honest with You. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 36

The Bible Project VIDEO: 1-3 John (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Eternally settled, exceedingly broad

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 119:81-96

TO CHEW ON: "Forever, O Lord,

Your word is settled in heaven....

Your commandment is exceedingly broad." Psalm 119:89,96

Asking one to accept the eternal verity of any set of facts or truths in our day of advancing knowledge and shifting values seems nervy. Yet that's what the psalmist declares here — the eternal certainty of God's word.

Contrast this with the way standards change all around us. For example, when I was growing up there was no whisper of the possibility of homosexual people marrying. Now you can lose your job if you take a stand against such marriages. That's only one example of others we could give.

In contrast to the shifting and changing of "truth" around us, God's words are "forever...settled in heaven." J. I. Packer says God's words to us "...are the index of reality. They show us things as they really are, and as they will be for us in the future according to whether we heed God's words to us or not" - Knowing God, p. 124.

The second verse I've picked to focus on says that God's words are also "exceedingly broad." Broad enough to speak to every aspect of life? I would say yes.

Nancy Pearcey says:

"To say that Christianity is the truth about total reality means that it is a full-orbed worldview. The term means literally a view of the world; a biblically informed perspective on all reality. A worldview is like a mental map that tells us how to navigate the world effectively. It is the imprint of God's objective truth on our inner life....God's word becomes a set of glasses offering a new perspective on all our thoughts and actions" - Total Truth, p. 23,24

Whether we are aware of it or not, each one of us has a worldview. Let's be watchful that ours is based on the truth of God's eternally settled, exceedingly broad word.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your word. Help me to study it, understand its implications for my life, and then apply it in obedience. Amen.


MORE: Thinking Christianly

"'Thinking Christianly' means understanding that Christianity gives the truth about the whole of reality, a perspective for interpreting every subject matter. Genesis tells us that God spoke the entire universe into being with His word — what John 1:1 calls the Logos. The Greek word means not only Word but also reason or rationality, and the ancient Stoics used it to mean the rational structure of the universe.

Thus the underlying structure of the entire universe reflects the mind of the Creator. There is no fact/value dichotomy in the scriptural account. Nothing has an autonomous or independent identity, separate from the will of the Creator. As a result, all creation must be interpreted in light of its relationship to God. In any subject area we study, we are discovering the laws or creation ordinances by which God structured the world" - Nancy Pearcey, Total Truth, p. 34.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Christian Carnival 335

Welcome to Christian Carnival 335. It's good to have you back here at Other Food! Again there are many interesting posts in this week's edition.  Without further ado - read away (and thanks to all who contributed!)

• Matthew C. Keegan presents Are Students Really Prepared For College? posted at WordJourney Magazine. Millions of college-bound freshmen will be leaving for school in August and September, with many marking their very first extended time away from home. High school is over and the college years beckon, but are students really prepared for college and all that this setting has to offer? (If, as Matthew says, college dropout rates are at 25%, this is a program whose time has come.)

• mundaneartistry presents journeying through the plains posted at Shades of Green. (A relaxing, summery post. Take a deep breath as you savour the moment.)

• Adam presents Thursday Hymn Reflection: ?Be Still, My Soul? posted at The Faughn Family of Four. I like hymns, and this is one of my favorites. Looking at the history of the tune was fun, but the words make all the difference. (Interesting trivia gives us more reasons to appreciate this old hymn.)

• FMF presents The Seven Pillars of Financial Success, Pillar 7: Give posted at Free Money Finance. Giving is one of the seven pillars of good, biblical, financial management. (Looks like a good series!)

• BWL presents 4 Spiritually Unhealthy Motives To Save Money posted at Christian Personal Finance. While saving money can be a good thing, these are some of the wrong reasons to do it... (Who knew saving could be the symptom of something unhealthy?  Don't tell this to my kids!)

• David presents Some thoughts... at Help 4 Life  I'm always looking for new ways to collaborate with people. So If I can help with anything let me know! (This personable marriage, family, and youth therapist shares his life by video;  it's 6 minutes well spent).

• Susan L. Prince presents Testimony of My Sailor: Meeting with God on the Pacific posted at Sisters' Weblog: It Bloggles the Mind!. This is a letter from Justin, a sailor, who shared his heart with God out on the ocean and then wrote to tell his mom, my friend Katie, what God is teaching him. It is a wonderful testimony and I'm so proud to call him my not-the-son. Love that man! (A heartfelt letter any Christian mom would treasure.)

• Joe Plemon presents When Dreams Die posted at Personal Finance By The Book. Even the Apostle Paul had great disappointments. We can learn from his response. (Hope-filled post for those dealing with dead or dying dreams.)

• Crystal presents Moldy Provolone and a Faithful Heart posted at In A Clay Pot. (Not your ordinary lesson from Job.)

• Dave Taylor presents Points To Ponder by Pope John Paul II posted at Enhance Life. (A Sunday sermon that inspired a Google search and lots of thought.)

• Tom Gilson presents Matching Game Answers: What Could We Do If We Tithed? posted at Thinking Christian. This stunned me when I took a close look at it. What could we do if the church would tithe? (You might want to try the game first before you look at the answers)

• Ridge Burns presents Richard Rolle posted at Ridge’s Blog. (Proof that the desire for God's fire can span the centuries).

• Andrew presents Change the sinful nature. posted at Rely on God in your personal development. - New Blog. (Determination to change oneself works to a point. But then something more is needed. Andrew helps us discover that something more.)

• Jose Anajero presents 2 Kinds of Success posted at Real Life Success. (Success viewed from various angles - like "When the opportunity to do right presents itself, the opportunity to do wrong presents itself right along side it.")

• Russ White presents Is Happiness All There Is? posted at Thinking in Christ. (A quote on modern parenting plus a little philosophical slice and dice makes for an enjoyable read.)

• Ronnie Roque presents Wise thinking for everyday living: Proverbs 101, part 2 posted at Who Me Be A Leader? (Good basics about wisdom.)

• Jeremy Pierce presents Age of Accountability posted at Parableman. A critique of the age of accountability. (A close examination of this belief shows things aren't as cut-and-dried as some would think. Interesting.)

• Violet N. (that's me) presents A lost sheep story posted at Other Food: daily devo's. A true story of God's creativity in seeking out one of His lost sheep. Read and be encouraged!

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Christian Carnival - here Wednesday (7th)!

I'm excited to announce that Other Food is hosting the 335th Christian Blog Carnival this Wednesday.

Maybe you'd like to join in by submitting an article from your blog. Posts should be:

Christian:

• The Christian Carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this Carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought.

• Posts need not be of a theological topic. Posts about home life, politics, or current events, for example, written from a Christian worldview are welcome.

Recent:

• Posted between midnight Tuesday June 29th and Tuesday July 6th.

To enter, simply click on the "Submit an article" link in the right sidebar widget (which doesn't seem to be working at this very moment but will be again soon, we hope) and fill out the generated form.

Or email me with:

• name and url of your post

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I will publish the Carnival post with links to all this week's articles on Wednesday morning.

Christian Carnival 324

Welcome to Christian Carnival 324 -- hosted for the first time here at Other Food! There's much excellent reading in this week's edition. Without further ado - have at it, and enjoy!

Barry Wallace presents What to Say When You Only Have 30 Seconds to Present the Gospel posted at who am i?. This guest post by Demian Farnworth generated some discussion with an atheist who stopped by to comment. (Thought-provoking for sure!)

FMF presents A Very Simple Budget posted at Free Money Finance. A very simple, Christian-based budget. (Who knew budgeting could be so uncomplicated?)

NCSue presents God and green beans posted at IN HIM WE LIVE AND MOVE AND HAVE OUR BEING. (Here's a new one: green beans as an instrument to lead someone to God!)

Joe Plemon presents How to Get What You Really Want: Give it Away posted at Personal Finance By The Book. A look at the law of the harvest. (Excellent points all)

Caiti and Steve presents The Parable of the Good Samaritan posted at The Bible Blog. (Lots of good background info about who's who in this story.)

angela ambroise presents Devotions and More » Blog Archive » How to become a self-feeder posted at Devotions and More. (Superb practical advice here.)

Andrea @ Unfailingly Loved presents Tattooed Truth posted at Unfailingly Loved. If you were to permanently display words of truth that you learned from the Lord in life, what would you choose? (Andrea never fails to hit a nerve.)

Diane R presents The Wrong and Right Way to Plant a Church posted at Crossroads: Where Faith and Inquiry Meet. People who start churches are often in too much of a hurry to get "their" programs going. But this often really hurts their members. (Wisdom in her cautions.)

Joseph Fallon presents In Defense Of Pope Benedict posted at Non-MainStream Opinions. (Reasonable and dispassionate.)

Darlene Moore Berg presents For a Sunday morning « Darlene's Poetical Pursuits posted at Darlene's Poetical Pursuits. This was an old "poem" that came to mind by the Holy Spirit to be shared this Sunday. (Simple yet profound.)

The Ridge Burns blog presents "The Mexico Outreach" at Ridge's Burns. (Amazing what can flow out of one little "yes.")

Steven and Debra Wallace presents FEDs Boo Hoo Collateral Damage posted at The END TIMES Hoax. Putting the shoe on the other foot...ouch! (What happens when 'collateral damage' is no longer just a theory.)

Weekend Fisher presents The missing superego: removing religion from the public square posted at Heart, Mind, Soul, and Strength. If you believe that society helps for the "superego" or conscience, then what does it do to psychological development when morality is removed from the public square? (Another example of reaping what we sow.)

Tom Gilson presents Unconstitutional? Let’s Make That Opinion Irrelevant! posted at Thinking Christian. (Putting the ball back in our court)

Jeremy Pierce presents Maximizing Literalness or Evenness of Interpretation posted at Parableman. (Exposing a problem I hadn't even thought of.)

Space Age Lutheran wrote Lutheran Sermon in 15 seconds about how people expect an advertisement when you share the Gospel with them. The Lutheran way of sharing the Gospel leaves people expecting you to say more. (Short-winded for sure.)

Henry Neufeld writes How Bible Translation Should be Done  at Participatory Bible Study. In the 30 years since I graduated from grad school I have become much slower to give a positive answer to this question.  There are many factors in translation and different methods bring out different aspects of the text. (Mellow wisdom here - a good read!)

michelle presents Choose Love posted at And She Went Out.... (Pointed words, as usual, from Micey.)

Rodney Olsen presents Porn in Public posted at RodneyOlsen.Net. (Good initiative - Rodney & Co. Let us know how it goes.)
 
Finally, the submission here at Other Food -- a devotional: Finished and Unfinished Business. God's best may mean leaving our safe and predictable yesterdays behind.

...and a late entry: Bob MacDonald presents Preview of the next handout for the study of the Song posted at Dust.

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Christian Carnival - here Wednesday (21st)!

I'm excited to announce that Other Food is hosting the 324th Christian Blog Carnival this Wednesday.

Maybe you'd like to join in by submitting an article from your blog. Posts should be:

Christian:

• The Christian Carnival is open to Christians of Protestant, Orthodox, and Roman Catholic convictions. One of the goals of this Carnival is to offer our readers to a broad range of Christian thought.

• Posts need not be of a theological topic. Posts about home life, politics, or current events, for example, written from a Christian worldview are welcome.

Recent:

• Posted between midnight Tuesday April 13th and Tuesday April 20th.

To enter, simply click on the "Submit an article" link in the right sidebar widget (which doesn't seem to be working at this very moment but will be again soon, we hope) and fill out the generated form.

Or email me with:

• name and url of your post

• name and url of your blog

• brief description of your post

Want this badge?

I will publish the Carnival post with links to all this week's articles on Wednesday morning.