If you walk around a dark room, you can’t see where you are going, can you? But if you turn on the light you can see everything and can see what you are doing. Light is the opposite of darkness. Light is good; it is pure.

John says that God is light. He is good, perfect, holy, pure. He is the opposite of darkness. There is nothing bad in him. And John tells us that we must walk in the light just as God is in the light.

We cannot say that we know and love God, and then walk in the darkness. There were people in John’s days who were doing exactly that. They said they loved God, but then they kept sinning. They didn’t think their sins were too bad at all.

But John said that can’t be the case. If you know God, God who is holy and full of light, then that will start to change you. If you know how good and perfect God is and if you love him, then you will also want to live a holy life. You will want to flee from sin.

This is a warning for us as well. Often, we can think in the same way. Of course we love God. We want to serve him and walk in the light. But then we think that our sins aren’t that bad. We know that God wants us to obey our parents, but we still mumble against them when they ask us to help around the house. God has commanded us not to kill, and we know that means that we aren’t allowed to hate others, but we still have horrible, angry thoughts about our sister or peers at school.

God tells us that we must instead walk in the light as God is in the light. In this life we cannot be perfect, but we must desire to be holy. We must rely on Jesus and trust him. If we do, then we are promised that Jesus will forgive us of all our sins.

Reflection with your child:

What does it mean that God is light?

Source: Sermon by Rev. E. Onderwater