Letters from the Beloved – Walking on Sunshine

The song titled Walking on Shine (Kartina and the Waves, 1985) is one of my all-time favorites. It never ceases to lift my mood and make me smile. “I’m walking on sunshine. And don’t it feel good!”

John asks us to walk on sunshine…well, something similar.

He tells us that we Christians must walk in the Light. 1 John 1:7 [NKJV] But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

This is another theme that John used in his Gospel and brings forward into his letters. In the opening of the Gospel according to John, he writes that Jesus was life and light. John 1:4-5 [NKJV] 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Matthew also records that we are to be the light of the world. [Matthew 5:14] We are to shine into the darkness of this world. [Matthew 5:16]. We do this for the same reason that Jesus did it – so that our lives glorify God the Father. Luke tells us not to hide the light that we walk in, but to put it on full display. [Luke 8:16]

The Gospel according to John has the most references to Jesus being the light and to our need to be a light as well. He records several times where Jesus said He is THE light.

John 8:12[ NKJV] Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life." In John 9:5 [NKJV] Jesu says, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." And that we should abide in His light. John 12:35-36 [NKJV] 35 Then Jesus said to them, "A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you; he who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 "While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and departed, and was hidden from them. John 12:46 [NKJV] "I have come [as] a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”

So, in 1 John 1:5-7 [NKJV], the apostle whom Jesus loved tells us that he is just passing on the message he heard from Jesus, 5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 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 Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.

God is light with no darkness in Him at all. Anyone walking in darkness has no fellowship with the Father. Jesus is light that came into the world. The Father sent Him into the world to bring God’s light to the world and we are to walk in His light. And if we walk in the light we walk in fellowship of those who have been cleansed from sin.

In John 9:5 [NKJV] Jesu says, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

The books of Acts, Romans, 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, James, 1 Peter and Revelation each have one or more scriptures that talk about the light of God or about we believers walking in the light or about how we are to shine the light of God into the world.

You see, we don’t have light in us, as God does, as Jesus does. They are like the sun. Light shines from within them. But we are like the moon. Our light is a reflection of their light – light that we absorb by walking in their light.

We are to be like Moses, who, after spending time in God’s presence, shone with the light he had absorbed by being with God. [See Exodus 34]

But, unlike Moses, we are not to put a veil over our light. Matthew 5:14-16 [NKJV] 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all [who are] in the house. 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

I’d much rather walk in His light than in the darkness of this world, where sin hides, waiting to trip us up. Wouldn’t you?

We are called to walk in His shining light, absorb it and then reflect it out into the world. Walking in the sunshine of God. “And don’t it feel good?!”

I welcome your comments and questions. You can write me in the comments section or at Nancy@DyanmicChristianMinistries.org