Walking in the Light

I came accross this article by a guy called Andre vd Merwe. Its brilliant, this passage certainly has been used over time to get Christians to focus on the wrong thing:

Walking in the Light
[1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin (NKJV)].
Walking in the light as God is in the light, is a result of God giving us his righteousness – John is talking about our position here, not our behaviour. Our position in Christ is eternally secured the day we put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. From that day on we walk “in the light”.
What is “light”? Jesus said “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12) Thus Jesus is light. When we are born again we are IN Christ (1 Cor 1:30, Eph 2:10), and therefore we are IN the light. Also because we are IN the light, we also become the light. [Eph 5:8 you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light]. Jesus also says we are the light of the world. [Matt 5:14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden]. As He was (and still is) the light, so we have become as He is.
Most of the arguments against the Grace message come from the book of John. Most legalists that read this book see it as a book that tells us what we are supposed to do, instead of reading it in the correct context: The book of John was written by John to his “little children” who had just come out from under the false teachings of Gnostics. John was by no means trying to tell them to “DO THIS!” or “DO THAT!” No he was telling them how secure they were in Christ, assuring them of their eternal salvation.
[1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth]. This verse makes it even more clear – we can not say that we have fellowship with God (in other words that we have been born again) if we walk in darkness (which means we are not actually born again), because then we would be lying. In simple English: You cannot say you are a Christian if you have not been born again!!
[2 Cor 6:14 For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?] Did you see how these things are contrasted with each other? Righteousness vs. lawlessness, light vs. darkness, Christ (anointed) vs. Belial (worthless) & believer vs. unbeliever.
1 John 1:7 (our key verse) says the blood cleanses from EVERY sin, and that pretty much means EVERY sin. In the original Greek language the word that was used for “cleanses” was katharizo?. This literally means to “continually cleanse”. So if we make a mistake, the blood removes it completely, and this happens day & night without ceasing. If you believe you can “walk in the light” based on your own obedience, why then would you need the blood to continually cleanse you? Because now you are doing it all yourself! No, we walk “in the light” because we have been given the righteousness of God as a free gift. I say again, John is talking about our position in Christ and not about our external behaviour. Here are some more verses to explain this:
[Eph 5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord;]
[Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they might shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 And the nations of those who are saved will walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour into it].
Yes when we look at our behaviour we will clearly see that we make mistakes every day and that we don’t necessarily walk in the light in our actions, but that is because our minds have not been fully renewed yet. Until the day we die, there will always be some area in our lives that we will need to bring under submission of the authority of God, whether it be thought patterns, habits, or whatever. The point is that we don’t do these things to earn God’s approval, but they happen spontaneously as a result of us falling more in love with Jesus and becoming more and more aware of how wonderfully we have been saved: [Phil 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling] (which actually means to “consider with awe and wonder”). It doesn’t say work AT your salvation, because Jesus has already done it all. But when you work something out, it means you figure it out for yourself.
Until the day we go to be with the Lord, we will always be able to improve our external behaviour and bring it more in line with our perfect position IN Christ. But until that day, God has already provided MORE THAN enough Grace to cover any mistakes we may make along the way: [Rom 5:20b But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound].
There is nothing wrong with living moral lives, but we should not use our ability to live moral as the measure/standard of our relationship with God."

God Blessed you!!