This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out 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, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

1 John 1:5 – 10

I am impressed all over again with the simplicity and power of these words that actually jumped to life for me many years ago when living in Africa.  I, of course, felt, as a missionary, that I was there as a teacher.  After a few years there I discovered that a central reason for being there was to learn how to “walk in the light.”  This most amazing truth was not an educational matter; it was a deeply spiritual reality that I needed to discover at ever deeper levels.

What do we communicate?  What should we communicate?  Walking in God’s light may seem absurdly simple but its power cannot be questioned. When I am walking in the light as God is in the light, made possible by the cleansing blood of Jesus, I have fellowship, not only with God, but with all those who are walking that way.  We should try to live in peace with all people.  If what I read here and what I know in my heart is true, then my deepest fellowship with another human being is this common walking in the light of God.