Shining Bright: The Journey from Darkness to Light in the Lord

Kids, teenagers, and adults. We all learn lessons every day. Sometimes they are easy ones; sometimes, they are hard yet necessary ones. When you tell your child, "No running in the house, you may get hurt," what typically happens? They run anyway and sometimes get hurt. Why could they not just listen to us and avoid the owie?

Or maybe you are in a relationship that no one in your circle of friends thinks you should be in and, at some point, what your friends have said about this person becomes visibly evident to you and you get hurt? You wonder, "Why did I not listen to my friends?"

Can you relate to either of these? The way that we learn from these lessons is to turn away from them and change our behavior, right? We put off the wrong relationship and put on God-honoring behavior. We turn away from disobedience or deceit and instead shift to being honest. Ephesians 4:25- 5:11 tells us all about the "put-off/put-on" principle and in verse 8 says, "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light." Please take some time to read the entire passage for yourself, but here is the breakdown of that passage:

Put Off < Put On

Lying < Speaking the Truth

Anger < Active Reconciliation

Stealing < Doing Honest Work

Corrupt Talk < Doing Honest Work

Bitterness < Kindness

Slander < Tenderheartedness

Malice < Forgiveness

Filthiness < Thanksgiving

Foolish Talk < Thanksgiving

Crude Joking < Thanksgiving

In sin, there is no real joy because joy comes from God. So, when you remove your sinful behavior but put no God-honoring activity in its place, your heart remains unchanged and void of real joy and intimacy with Christ.

If Paul was writing to us today he might write something like, "You need to zip your mouth, get out of a sinful relationship, or get the heck outta Dodge!" It's time to wake up! If we have behaviors in our lives that need to change, let's get to work and combat that sin. But we must put on a God-honoring action in its place.

Are you willing to make the change?

Perspectives into Practice:

My challenge to you is to examine your life. Are there areas of your life that you need to change? If you asked a trusted friend what areas of your spiritual life you need to work on, what do you think they might say? This concept may be difficult to hear, but it is a significant one.