Abiding in the Light of Christ

1 John 2:10 The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him. What a great encouragement to live to love with Jesus! To abide in love is to abide in the Light. When we walk in the Light, we can see where we are going, and therefore can avoid stumbling over people, circumstances, and ourselves. This verse should motivate us all the more to make glorifying God by loving with Jesus our purpose in life. If that is our purpose in all that we do, we always have the blessing to see things clearly. If our purpose is our own happiness, comfort, and convenience, we are blinded to the needs of others. In fact, we might not even notice them! Or we might stumble over them as we press on to accomplish our own desires, goals, and agendas. To abide in the Light is to remain, live in, and receive the Light of God revealed in Jesus Christ. He is the Light. John was saying that to love our brothers and sisters is to receive the light of His life and live in it. Another way to think about it is to think of the Light being the light of “that day” — the day we will all give an account to Jesus of our lives. Those who live today with “that day” in view are living in the Light. We live to love with Jesus today because when we give an account for today on “that day”, we know we will bring Him glory and joy if we walked in love today with Him. So today’s encouragement has “that day” in view, the day when Jesus comes to be glorified in the saints and marveled at by all who believe as Paul wrote in 2 Thess. 1:10. May we abide in, walk in, and receive the Light of Jesus so we can love those He puts in our paths today for His glory.