Sit, Walk and Stand Based on Grace and His Finished Work (6)

After Paul tells us to walk in love which I have shared in my previous post, he exhorts us to walk as children of Light.

c) Walk as children of Light
"For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [lead the lives of those native-born to the Light].” Ephesians 5:8 (Amplified Bible) This brings to mind another verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:5 “For you are all sons of light and sons of the day; we do not belong either to the night or to darkness.” (Amplified Bible) These two verses say that we are children and sons of Light. This means that Light is a person! So who is Light? John 8:12 declares “Once more Jesus addressed the crowd. He said, I am the Light of the world. He who follows Me will not be walking in the dark, but will have the Light which is Life.” (Amplified Bible) When Paul tells us to walk as children and sons of Light, he is reminding us that we are children of God!

This is consistent with Paul’s earlier exhortation for us to be rooted in the knowledge that God has “raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6 NKJ) In this verse, Paul reveals our life in Christ to be one of union with Him in the highest heavens. In Ephesians 5, when Paul tells us to walk as children of Light, he is reminding us that we are light in the Lord (Jesus, who is Light of the world).

1 Thessalonians 5:5 says that when we are sons of Light, “we do not belong either to the night or to darkness.” The reason is given in 1 John 1:5 “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (NKJ) When we are children of Light, we do not belong to darkness anymore because God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all!

How do we live as children of Light? John 15:4 gives us the key “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” (NKJ) What does it mean to abide in Him? John 6:56 tells us :" He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him." (NKJ) Jesus is telling us in this verse to focus on His finished work on the cross! This brings us back to the importance of “sitting” well which I talked about in my first post on this topic. When we are seated and rooted in His finished work and the knowledge of who we are in Him through His death on the cross, we are abiding in Him. When we abide in Christ, we will automatically shine with His light. We cannot shine unless we are plugged into the power source, just like a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it abides in the vine. When we abide in Him, we will effortlessly bear fruit which is what Ephesians 5:9 talks about “For the fruit (the effect, the product) of the Light or ^[a]the Spirit [consists] in every form of kindly goodness, uprightness of heart, and trueness of life.” (Amplified Bible)

----------------to be continued--------------------