Yesterday was a day of dark and light: the darkness of storm clouds gathering only to be broken through by golden cracks of light; swathes of grey suddenly splintered by the brilliance of blue sky. Darkness and light can never truly coexist; one always drives out the other. We are those who know what it is to walk in the light and we must live up to our calling. This is not a passive process: find out what pleases the Lord; seek it; test it; approve it. And the only way to get there; the only way to know God's will is whole-hearted submission, the surrendering of all we are for his sake. (Romans 12:1-2, Psalm 143:8, Luke 22:42) The fruit of light comes from laying ourselves down. (John 12:24) And if we do not produce fruit, if our lives do not look light, what is the point? Dallas Willard speaks of the danger of a Gospel that preaches forgiveness without preaching the need for transformation. The Light has come but we need to walk in it. Otherwise we are ineffective (2 Peter 1:8), unproductive (Titus 3:14), uprooted trees - twice dead (Jude 1:12). The kind of trees only useful for being thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19) Our separation from fruitlessness is to be absolute: whereas Light grows seeds of goodness, righteousness and truth, darkness grows the opposite and yet both will grow together. (Matthew 13:24-30) Jesus always intended that the lives of his disciples bear much fruit (John 15:16). How fruity are we feeling today? What evidence of our illuminated minds, of our adoption? Are we walking in the Light of God?
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