LIVING WORD DEVOTIONAL
By Pastor Mensa Otabil
Wednesday 6th October 2021
PRACTISING THE TRUTH
Scripture Reading: 1 John 1
If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth 1 John 1:6
When we invite the Lord Jesus Christ to come and live in us, we receive God’s light. This is the first step in living the Christian life. After doing that, we must walk in the light that we have received. We walk in the light when we follow Christ and imitate His ways. The Christian life is a Christ-like life.
What happens when we have received Christ but are not living for Him? Our passage for today says, when we do that, we are living a lie. That sounds like a harsh saying, but it is the truth. Having the light and walking in darkness is a life of deception.
We live a life of deception when we try to cover up our sins. That happens when we want our Christian friends to think we are ‘spiritual’ or very ‘deep’. We try to make a favourable impression on others instead of seeking to please God. Doing that makes us pretend to be walking in the light, though we are walking in the darkness in reality.
How do we practice the truth?
- We must know God’s truth. We must go beyond knowing and quoting Bible verses to rightly divide or interpret the scriptures. To do that, we must make Christ the centre of all scriptural interpretation. He is the Word made flesh. Christ’s life and teachings are the guidelines for how we live our lives. If we want to practice the truth, we must know God’s truth.
- We must receive God’s truth. God’s truth conflicts with our truth. The life and teachings of Christ Jesus are very different from the way our world thinks. His way is a narrow road that leads to life. Our world is following the broad road that leads to damnation. If we want to practice the truth, we must accept God’s truth as our truth.
- We must apply God’s truth. This is the difficult part; living out our faith day to day. Practicing the truth is living a life of submission to the Lord.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to be true to you. I desire to live the life you have given me to your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
