Thoughts for the Day

Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating a brother or sister, is still in the darkness. Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light, and in such a person there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates another believer is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.........

Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; for all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches—comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live for ever.

(Church in Wales Lectionary, New Revised Standard Version)

Thoughts

Have you ever worn your dark glasses indoors? You come from the sun into the house still wearing them. Or perhaps you're bad at cleaning your glasses and slowly they get dirtier and dirtier. Either way, initially you don't notice and get on with life. Eventually a kind person might point out that you're wearing your dark glasses indoors, or point out that it might be time to clean your glasses!

Alternatively, you can think of a cartoon picture with someone standing under a cloud of rain - elsewhere is sunshine, it's just dropping on them. Sometimes we use this image for a person who is depressed. But it can also describe what Jesus describes as someone who sins. He says "anyone who hates another....walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go."

When we are ruled by sin, by bad desires or actions, then we are blinkered and need to allow God's light to shine in us and see ourselves and the world in His light. Try working this next week on one of your bad desires?

Lord God,
teach us to walk in the light
of Your love,
and not in the darkness of sin.
Help us to see ourselves honestly
and nor make excuses to You.
So may we move forward in hope
to the future You offer.
Amen.