Live As Children of Light – Ephesians 5:8

Have you ever been hiking at night without a flashlight? When darkness falls navigation is nearly impossible. 

Maybe you hate the outdoors and “hiking” for you is checking the mailbox. If you haven’t been hiking at night in the forest, I would assume that you have experienced a power outage at your house. As the power turns off at your house you are left in the dark trying to find a flashlight while hoping you don’t run into the coffee table or any of the kid’s toys.

• Darkness is disorienting.
• Darkness is terrifying. 
• Darkness is crippling. 
• Darkness is limiting. 

As Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus he instructed them to “live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8) instead of getting tangled up in the darkness of the sins that once limited them. Christians should live as people who have the light of God. 

The imagery of light and darkness refers to one’s spiritual state. The death, guilt, and separation that sin brings is “darkness.” Walking in darkness means that a person is living in sin and gratifying sinful desires. Life, grace, love, and mercy is “light.” In fact, God is light. 1 John 1:5 says, “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” In John 8:12 Jesus says that he is the “light of the world.” 

Christians are light. They don’t just walk in light, their souls have been transformed by the light of Jesus to become a light of Jesus. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, Christians possess the light of Jesus and are able to walk in the new life that Jesus gives. We are no longer trapped by darkness but walk in righteousness. Salvation enables us to lay down the old life and take hold of the new life we have in Christ. Living in the light produces goodness and righteousness and is pleasing to God (Ephesians 5:9).

• Light gives vision. 
• Light gives direction. 
• Light brings liberation. 
• Light gives perspective. 
• Light overcomes darkness. 

Live It: 

• In what areas of life are you tempted to walk in darkness? 
• What activities, sins, or actions do you need to bring into the light of Jesus to find freedom and forgiveness? 

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