The Autumnal Light

The Autumnal Light

1 John1: 5.... 1 John2:6

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 yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by 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 has no place in our lives.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says “I know him” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Introduction

I was admiring the trees in the Forest near where I live whilst driving to a football game I was about to referee. With the autumn sun shining on them, the colours they displayed ranged from yellow right through the colour scale to dark red, they looked awesome and extraordinary beautiful. I love to walk through the trees at this time of the year just to admire their splendour. However if it rains and the sun disappears they look kind of shabby and not displayed in all their glory, not the sort of weather you would venture out in, or indeed put the old shorts on and take a ear bashing on the soccer pitch. Yet if we relied on the good weather in our country we would do nothing at all because we get our fair share this time of the year. However it got me thinking about the light and how things take on a different shape without it.

Light is something we all take for granted and at this time of year the mornings linger in darkness and the evenings draw in most of the light hours we spend in the working place. Light also changes the way we see things too. In bright sunshine we see the item clearly in great detail. When the light fades so does the clarity and things look duller. I got to thinking about this piece of scripture and in some ways it captured the essence of autumn for me.

Passing on the good news

Our text opens with these words

This is the message we heard from him and declare to you.

The bible really only asks us to do one thing for God and that is to go into the world and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This is our great commission and each and every one of us is given the authority to do it yet when it comes right down to it we shy away from doing just that. Do you not know that you are Gods ambassador in the very work place you are in? Then how come we become the “James Bond” Christian. We go undercover because we are scared to own up to the greatest truth on earth.

Boy!! We are all there on Sunday evening, moving in the spirit, having great Christ like conversations with likeminded people. Then we head off home afterwards feeling full of Joy, having been filled to the max. Wow! Don’t we feel empowered? Yet in the morning we wake up and put on our work head and fail in the very thing we were empowered to do. Make disciples of all Nations.

Believe it or not your Nation is the very place you work in. What!! I hear you cry? No. No not here I want to go to exotic lands and do it there. Well so do I but we are where we are for that very same purpose. God has put us there to be his spokes person and someone their needs you to pass on the good news of the Gospel. You cannot hide the truth because if you do that makes you a selfish Christian. Like the extraordinary colours in the autumn trees be bold and shine in the work place for Christ. Let your light shine into the darkness.