“Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” – Colossians 2:6-7
Many people believe that walking in the light means living perfectly. They fall into the trap that they must outweigh the bad in their lives with good deeds in order to be made right with God. However, while striving to do good is not wrong, it is not the solution to walking in the light. In my last post, we discussed who the only source of light is– Jesus. We explored that walking in the light means living a lifestyle of walking in Jesus. So what is this lifestyle?
Surrender. This lifestyle is not about living a perfect life, crossing every t and dotting every i. Walking in the light is a life of surrender. It is a recognition that you cannot do it on your own. Surrendering begins with leaving everything you are and everything you have ever been behind for the sake of following Jesus.
In Luke 5:1-11, Luke records the story of Jesus calling his first disciples: Simon (later known as Peter), James, and John. The three fishermen had just spent all night out in their boats attempting to catch fish. Exhausted after a long, unsuccessful night, they brought their boats to shore and began cleaning their nets to wrap up their work. Jesus was speaking nearby to a large crowd. Seeing Simon Peter’s boat, he told him to put it back out on the water a little way from shore, where he sat down and continued to speak.
“And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.’ And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.” – Luke 5:4-7
Simon, James, and John were astonished by this miracle that Jesus had performed. Their eyes were opened to the majesty of Jesus and they pleaded for Him to leave, confessing to be sinful men. Jesus responded with reassuring peace and a call to follow Him. “They left everything and followed Him” (v. 11).
This is surrender. Even at the point of exhaustion, these three fishermen respected and obeyed Jesus. Perhaps they had heard the stories of His miracles and teachings or maybe they just recognized His authority. Regardless, they selflessly offered what they had to Jesus (a boat to sit in). Then, in front of a large crowd, they humbly obeyed Jesus by doing something that even the non-fishermen in the crowd may have thought to be crazy. However, because of their willingness, the glory of God was shown. Upon discovering who Jesus truly was, they could do nothing else but confess who they were. They did not try to talk themselves up nor did they provide a list of every good deed they had ever done. They started with confession. Finally, these three fishermen demonstrated the ultimate act of surrender: they left everything they knew for the sake of following Jesus, who turned out to be someone they were willing to be martyrs for. The disciples soon found that in leaving everything they owned (even their lives), they received everything in Eternity.
Walking in the light is not about living a perfect life. We could never achieve that. Rather, it is recognizing who Jesus is, offering our lives to Him, confessing who we are, and leaving everything behind to follow Him. Next week we will discuss the action of following Jesus and what this means for our daily life in the lens of living for eternity. Walking in the light is investing eternally. We give up what we have and He makes His home our home.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21
L.I.F.E. – – – Live Intently For Eternity
Life is not about living for ourselves, it is about living, earnestly, in light of what He did for us.
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