We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.
1 John 1:1-10 NLT
We need to live out what we believe. John walked with Jesus, physically touched Him, and saw Him transfigured in glory. John was proclaiming the light of the world so that people could experience the joy that is only found in Him. There is no darkness in God. If we are truly walking with God, then life will be changed. We don’t overcome darkness by our own power, but by confessing our selfish darkness to Him, and allowing His light into the dark areas.
We will live out what we believe so let's be honest with the testimony of our actions – what do my actions say about my beliefs? I can say that “God is first,” but do my actions live that out? There is a power in being honest with yourself and the reality of your actions and beliefs. A person can move forward when they can confess that their actions do not line up with God’s Word – and then commit to living God’s way of life.
What dark area of your soul is Jesus trying to transform? What are the steps you can take to cooperate with His work in you?
