Walk In The Light

Walk in the Light (1 John 1:5 – 2:2)

15 years ago (2004), Jerry Lynn was trying to figure out where he should put a hole in his wall for a TV wire. He went up to the second floor of his house and lowered his wife's small, digital alarm clock on a string through an air vent. He “thought he could listen to the alarm, which he set to go off after 10 minutes, and know where to put the hole, according to CNN.

But then the string broke. The clock fell. Jerry was still able to use it, though. When the alarm went off, “he could still hear where he needed to poke a hole in the wall.”

And then the alarm kept going off every night at the same time—for 13 years.

Jerry had figured the batteries in the clock would likely die out soon, but each night at 7:50 p.m., he and his wife would be treated to about a minute of beeping that could be heard “from any room on the first floor.” Jerry told CNN, “We don't even notice it because we're so used to it. It's more of a conversation piece when guests come over.”

However, two years ago (July 2017) the nightly alarm became “too much to bear,” and they removed the clock from the wall. Even so, they didn’t throw it out. They put it on their mantle still set for 7:50 p.m. (Nancy Coleman, “An Alarm Clock Stuck in a Wall Has Gone Off Every Night for 13 Years,” CNN, 6-20-17; “After 13 Years Of Daily Alarms, Owners Remove Clock From Air Vent,” NPR Morning Edition, 7-10-17; www.PreachingToday.com)

I suppose that’s one way to deal with a mistake – just bury it and hope no one notices, or let it become a conversation piece when somebody does notice. “It’s no big deal,” you say; but after a while, it IS a big deal.

So what do you do when you make a mistake? What do you do when you fail? What do you do when you sin to keep it from becoming unbearable in your life? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 John 1, 1 John 1, where the Bible shows us what to do with sin.

1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (ESV)

When you fail, the first thing you need to do is…

REALIZE THAT GOD IS LIGHT.

Know that our Lord is the Absolute Truth. Understand that He is the personification of integrity. That means He is totally and completely honest, and there is not one speck of deceit in Him at all. Therefore, you must…

BE COMPLETELY HONEST ABOUT YOURSELF.

Tell the truth about yourself, and be willing to admit your own failures and shortcomings.

1 John 1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (ESV)

If we walk in darkness, that is to say, if we cloud the truth and try to make people believe we’re better than we are, then our claims to a close relationship with God are false. We are living a lie.

So when you mess up, don’t lie to others about yourself. Don’t pretend to be okay when you’re not.

Hypertension (or high blood pressure) has been called the silent killer, but doctors didn't always realize this. In fact, some doctors used to argue that hypertension was a made-up disorder that didn't need to be treated at all. For example, in 1931 Dr. J. H. Hay proclaimed, “The greatest danger to a man with high blood pressure lies in its discovery, because then some fool is certain to try and reduce it.”

This denial of the problem led to tragic results. Take the true case of Frank. Frank was diagnosed with hypertension in 1937 at the age of fifty-four. His blood pressure was 162/98 and was considered by physicians at the time to be “mild hypertension.” No treatment was initiated. By 1940, his blood pressure was running 180/88. In 1941, his pressure was 188/105. He was encouraged to cut back on smoking and work, but his condition didn't improve.

By 1944, his pressure was running higher, and he suffered a series of small strokes. This was followed by the classic symptoms of heart failure, so he was placed on a low-salt diet with hydrotherapy and experienced some improvement.

However, by February 1945, his pressure was 260/145, and on April 12, 1945, he complained of a severe headache with his blood pressure measuring at 300/190. He lost consciousness and died later that day at the age of sixty-three. Perhaps you know Frank better as Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the thirty-second president of the United States. (Timothy R. Jennings, The God Shaped Heart, Baker Books, 2017, pages 21-23; www.Preaching Today.com)