“By this we know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word truly has the love of God perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him.” 1 John 2:3-5
What does it mean to keep His commandments? Here, it sounds like it means to get everything right; to have our lives line up perfectly with the Word and not sin. Yet just a few verses before in 1 John 1:8-10 it says that in walking in the light, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His son cleanses us from all sin. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.”
So how do we keep His commandments and walk continually in the light without sin, yet knowing we do sin?
Keep, used in these verses is the Greek word téreó, and it means to spiritually guard and watch over. It is the same word that is used as the guards kept watch over the tomb of Jesus. It is also the word used in keeping the Sabbath in John 9:16 where the Pharisees accused Jesus of not keeping it because he performed incredible miracles of healing on this day.
Commentary notes that to “‘Walk in the light’ means to believe and accept God’s truth as revealed in his Word and to make an earnest and sustained effort, with His help, to live by God’s truth in words and actions” along with receiving cleansing from the blood of Jesus from all our sin. [1]
Our salvation comes by grace through faith and not by our actions. Yet there is also an active faith that brims over into actions and earnest, sustained effort. Rather than a pushing ahead and striving and self-effort while driving for external rewards out of a place of emptiness and want, there is an embracing and giving of ourselves in love out of a place of fullness. We put our hands to what our heart prompts out of a knowing Him, His Word and His nudging.
In 1 John 3:9 it goes on to say, “Whoever has been born of God does not practice sin, for His seed remains in him. And he cannot keep on sinning, because He has been born of God.”
We have a deposit. It is a seed that has been planted inside of us at the time of Salvation. This seed, when watered by the Word of God, grows and begins to push out all that does not align with the will of God. It is not that we never sin, but we do not stay in our sin because of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit that helps us get freedom from it. The more we cooperate with the Spirit rather than disregard and resist Him or dull our spirits by disobedience, the quicker we grow and mature.
And 1 John 2:6 goes on to say in keeping His Word, those who remain in Him out to walk as He walked. And again in 1 John 3:6, “Whoever remains in Him does not sin.”
Remain, here is the Greek word menó and it means, just what it says… to tarry, stay, abide and not leave, standing, enduring and waiting. Just as His seed remains in us through His Holy Spirit residing in us, we remain in God.
Psalm 119:32 says, “I will run after you with delight in my heart, for you will make me obedient to your instructions.”
So to keep His commands really isn’t about getting it all perfect and not ever failing. It is not living a perfect life as Jesus was the only One who could do this. Rather, it is this place of continually lifting our hearts up to God. We keep our hearts before Him. We do not keep the law out of rote effort and self-striving, but we do keep longing, keep following and keep seeking His will. We keep our hearts tender.
“I want to give all that is inside of my heart to you” sings in the background.
It says in Psalm 119:61 that, “Even when temptations encircle me with evil, I won’t forget for a moment to follow Your commands.”
Even for a moment, we don’t operate outside of our relationship with Him. In all things and all times, we look to Him. While He keeps us, guards us and guides us, we keep our heart open before Him and passionately lean in to know and obey Him in paths that please Him.
Many will focus on their purpose, calling and giftings. While these are important and where we will find an anointing to accomplish His will for our lives, we have to keep watch where our hearts are set. If we make it all about us and how we shine with His light, we usually end up in lack. His purposes are always to do with sacrificially loving others and giving our lives away.
1 John 2:6 says we “ought to walk as He walked.” Where Jesus invested His time and energy was in seeing people find salvation and discipling others down this same self-sacrificing path. As we set our hearts on Him and allow the Holy Spirit to guide us in Jesus’ steps, we will desire and pursue the same.
“Your face is like the sun, shining in it’s full strength” sings in the background.
As we live for Him and with Him, we are in opposition to the darkness around us. The Light inside of us will shine in the darkness because we are not part of it. David Wilkerson tells a story of two women from his church who worked for this Jewish CEO who did not know Christ. Because of the light they shined in the way they acted in following the gospel with their lives, the boss recognized something about them. It resulted in him coming to know the Lord. He called the church they attended to tell them about it. [2]
Matthew 5:14 says that we are “the light of the world, a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” David Wilkerson goes on to note that your neighbors may not know directly about your faith in Christ but they see the light that shines from you because of the life you have in Him. He writes, “As long as nothing hinders that life, your light will continue to shine in the darkness.” [3]
Walking in the light, we speak out the truth in love. We want to also keep guard over the words of our lips. Our tongue is like a little rudder that directs our hearts. It is not what goes in to our hearts but what comes out of our mouth that defiles us.
Our confessions matter. It is by both the faith in our heart and the confessions of our mouth that we become saved. And as we confess the Word of God out of our mouth, our actions follow in alignment with His will. His Word spoken has authority and is empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the will of God within the Word.
Isaiah 55:11 says, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
Psalm 119:140 (TPT) says that the promises in His Word glow with fire, it suddenly dawned on me that the coal that cleansed Isaiah’s lips in Is. 6:7 was the confessed Word of God which is why it had power to cleanse and take his sin away. Jesus is the Word of God, and His Word spoken has authority and is empowered by the Holy Spirit to accomplish the will of God within the Word.
I love this picture of the words that we speak cleansing and taking away our own sin. It is easy to focus on correcting, rebuking and training other’s in righteousness. In our tongue directing our steps, our focus can be outward. While correction, rebuking and training others is important, it can sometimes be done in the wrong spirit.
When people oppose Christian values, we may be quick to correct them out of a spirit of judgement. Our words are powerful. We want to put a guard over our lips and watch the words we speak. I love that Brother Lawrence gives an example of this with a simple life. He invested his time in both confessing His sin and talking with God as he walked with him. 1 John 1:9, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
2 John 1:9 says that those who sin do not remain in His teaching but those who remain in the teachings of Christ, the Son and the Father both remain in them. We remain by confessing our sin, talking with God and speaking out words of faith.
By living in close relationship with Christ, Brother Lawrence gave an example for others to follow in shining the light. Our place of power is from a place of prayer, confession and humility, being filled with the Holy Spirit. When we speak to others, it is then from a place of deep love for them.
We mainly shine the light by the life we live. We walk in the light by living in the light and having fellowship with Christ. When we share the gospel with others, it comes first by prayer and the way we live our lives. Then out of this place of humility, we share the abundance of goodness we have received. These words have power and are rooted in love rather than manipulation.
Lord, I deeply long to be more effective at this. I sometimes get confused by what is performance and living the gospel by striving and what is genuine faith and out of relationship. Words have power because we have the Holy Spirit inside of us. Help us to live in humility before you and confess words that heal and bring hope to others around us.
“Bless us with a bountiful harvest, with golden grain swaying on the mountain fields! May the cities be full of praising people, fruitful and filled- So that His name may be honored forever! May the fame of His name spring forth! May it shine on, like the sunshine!” (Psalm 72:16-17a)
- Fire Bible: (MEV) Modern English Version. Life Publishers International. 2015.
- Wilkerson, David. God is Faithful. Chosen Books, Bloomington, MN. World Challenge, Inc. 2012.
- Wilkerson, David. God is Faithful. Chosen Books, Bloomington, MN. World Challenge, Inc. 2012.
