Text: 1 John 1:5-10
Based on research studies, walking on a regular basis has the following health benefits:
- Helps keep your bones, muscles, and joints healthy
- Reduces anxiety and depression, boosting your mood
- Helps you handle stress
- Helps you feel more energetic
- Helps you sleep better
- Improves your self-esteem
- Gives you an opportunity to socialize actively with friends and family.
Walking makes us healthy. How many of us do walk? If you do, how far can we walk? One, two or one hundred kilometers? There was a time when people wanted to go to a place they walk. But today, people become so dependent upon their car or motorcycle. Nobody wants to walk anymore.
Walking is a part of our life. No wonder that the Bible likens the Christian life to walking. There are three important principles in this text that tell us about the walk of the Christian life.
I. Christian should walk in the light (vv. 5-7).
We have to understand that when John this letter, people believed that darkness is evil. People had real fear of darkness. When darkness comes they think that something bad will happen to them. The believe that the darkness harm them.
Today, we may not understand how afraid they were because we have electric lights. During that time, when night came men just stayed in their homes, they do not move, they just slept or watched in fear of the dark.
John tells us that God is more than just light. In God, there is no darkness or evil in Him at all. He says that “you claim to be sons of God, Light has enlightened you, do your actions show this?
In the Philippines, there was a time when there was energy shortage and there were long black outs every day. When it was dark in the cities many bad people committed many crimes. The government has to find ways to keep the street lights on to reduce the crime rate.
This is the challenge for us as Christians, we need to ask ourselves the same question that John asked to these early Christians. If we claim to be Christian and have fellowship with God who is light, how can we still live in darkness. Why we are still do bad things that destroy our testimony and makes our church looks bad to the unbelievers. Some of the things we do, some words that we say and some of our attitudes show darkness than light.
II. Christian should walk in fellowship with one another (v. 7).
John was writing to a gathering of Christians. He use the word “we” to show that he is included in their fellowship. All Christians should have fellowship with one another. If you say you are a Christian and do not want to be in the church to have fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ, then you are missing one of the most important part of the Christian life.
One day I was driving, I was following a truck that has sticker saying “You’ll never walk alone.” I just learned that this is the song of the Liverpool Football Club. But this is true also with the Christian life. We never walk alone. God is walking with us and we are walking with our brothers and sisters in Christ.
As Christians, we should not even think that we can live apart from one another. When we do not fellowship with other Christians, our church suffers.
III. Christian should walk in forgiveness(vv. 8-10).
John tells those early Christians that God is a forgiving God. In order to be forgiven by God, the Christian must confess his sins. Before he can confess them, he must first admit them. To refuse to admit them makes God a liar.
It is surprising how many people today do not feel the need of confessing sin. Also, many do not believe they commit sin. Not to admit our sins, is to call God a liar. The hardest words to say are the words “I’m sorry.”
If we confess our sin we will be forgiven, if not then we will not. If we sin against a brother and a sister we have to do the same. God has forgiven us and we should forgive one another.
Conclusion
In closing I want to read the poem of St. Theresa to inspire us to walk as a Christian.
Christ has no body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which he looks
compassion on this world
Yours are the feet with which
He walks to do good
Yours are the hands with which
He blesses all the world
Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are His body
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