WALK AS CHILDREN OF LIGHT
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord:
walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is
acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of
darkness, but rather reprove. For it is a shame even to speak of those things
which are done of them in secret.” (Eph 5: 8-11)
When Christ gives us light he
teaches us we were darkness—not that we were only in darkness, though we were, but we were the darkness. But by the free grace of God, now we are light in Christ our Lord, not that
we are only in the light, though we are, but we are light in the Lord. Oh,
what a price Christ had to pay in order to make us light in him! Therefore, we
are constrained by the love of our Redeemer to obey his command to walk as his
children—children of Light.
The
fruit of the Light (says the oldest manuscripts) produced in his people is
unlike the unfruitful works of darkness
produced by our old man of sin. His fruit produces our walk in all goodness as we labor in our
occupations that we might have to give to the needy rather than stealing and being
covetous (Eph 4:28). The Light causes us to walk in all righteousness by being kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving brethren as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us, making us followers
of God as dear children, walking in love as Christ loved us instead of being
full of bitterness and malice (Eph 4: 31-5: 3). The Spirit makes us walk in all truth as we speak that which is
edifying, ministering the gospel of grace to our hearers rather than lies (Eph
4:25, 29).
Christ teaches us to test what is
acceptable unto him by bringing everything to his word. Whatsoever is acceptable unto our Lord we are
to walk in but whatsoever the Lord’s word says are unfruitful works of darkness, we are to avoid. That includes the
workers themselves “for it is a shame
even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” But not only are we to have no fellowship
with them, we are even to reprove them.