STRAYING FROM THE LIGHT By emb 1 John 1: [5] This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. In God is no darkness at all. Think of sin as darkness and you can easily see the picture. God is like a torch in the middle of a moonless night. To come close to God and be in His light you simply need to stand next to him. You'll feel His warmth and benefit from His light. But to have fellowship with Him, to be very close, to be one with God, you must be like Him with no darkness at all. Like adding a match to the torch, they both are lit. You cannot have both a dark match in with a lit torch. Darkness and light do not go together. John.3 [19] And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. When we sin we are in darkness and doing evil. John.8: [12] Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. Jesus Christ is our salvation. Acts.2 [38] Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Rom.10: [9] That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. You say out loud, 'Jesus Christ is my Lord' and believe in your heart of hearts that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead and you are saved. All your sins are removed from you and you become a child of the Light. 1 Pet.2: [9] But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: God chose us to be with Him in His Light. 1 Thes.5: [5] Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Sin is darkness. 2 Cor.6: [14] Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? If we have fellowship with those who are in darkness and sinning, we cannot have perfect fellowship with God who is Light and has no darkness. We in effect push God away from us so we can be around those in darkness. We stray from the Light of truth, of joy, of happiness of goodness and holiness. We become easy prey for the Prince of darkness to deceive us and lead us further from the protection and guidance of our Father God and Jesus Christ our Lord. Eph.2: [2] Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Many people tend to think of sin as something big and nasty like murder or rape and do not think of it as being something like what people often refer to as a little white lie. Some little harmless untruth they may have told to get out of work or school or something they didn't want to do. But this is how strongly Jesus Christ feels about a lie. John 8: [44] Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. That little white lie is the beginning of getting you away from God. Any time you sin you are walking in darkness instead of the Light. You go AGAINST God. When you go AGAINST God that means you are sinning and setting yourself up for the devil to get at you. God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Sin is darkness so you and God cannot be as one, cannot be tight, if you are sinning. People today are straying from the Light of God by sinning and then rationalizing their sin away by saying to themselves, 'I just want to be happy. God would want me to be happy. I only live once. God will understand because God is love and He loves me and wants me to be happy. He'll forgive me.' See? It isn't about God forgiving you or understanding you or even about Him loving you. You may think your sin is small and won't matter. But, sin is sin. You cannot have just a little darkness and bring it into pure Light. It can't co-exist together. One has to go or you are apart. That is what you do when your try and rationalize your sin away. You are living in darkness away from God. Setting yourself up for evil and more darkness to be around you. God does want you to be happy. No doubt about that. But he wants you to renew your mind to His Word so you can be totally protected and loved by Him. He is not going to change into darkness to be with you, so it is up to you to return to the light of His truth and love so you can be in perfect fellowship with Him. Rom.7: [22] For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: If you do that, God will reward you. Pss.37: [4] Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. That is what God says. If you want to be happy - delight in Him and he'll make you super happy by giving you the desires of your heart. That is how much God wants you to be happy. Put God first. Don't stray from His Light. Keep yourself well lit with Him and He'll give you true happiness. God Bless You as you walk in His marvelous, glorious Light! :) Shangy!